Can a vehicle be built which can go directly downwind, faster than the wind (DDWFTTW), powered only by the wind, steady state? Thin Air Designs, in collaboration with the San Jose State University Aero department, along with generous corporate sponsors set out to definitively answer this question. On 3 July 2010 we established a world record by going directly downwind at 2.8 times the true wind speed.
Next summer - we go directly UP-wind faster than the wind.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sad news in the world of DDWFTTW
Unfortunately, the news this time is not happy. We learned today that Andrew Bauer passed on Sept 6. As our blog followers will recall, Andrew Bauer was not the original inventor of the concept, but did build the first successful DDWFTTW cart that anyone seems to know of. He did this to settle a friendly wager with colleague and notable aero engineer A.M.O. Smith in 1969. As we understand, the wager was based on a claim in a student's paper, written 20 years before, that DDWFTTW should in fact be possible. In some small way JB and I have tried to model ourselves after Andrew by doing the engineering and demonstrating the principle - rather than simply proving it on paper.
Over the course of the project JB and I have been lucky enough to talk with Andrew's wife, some of his colleagues, and now his son. All have been extremely friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, Andrew suffered from Alzheimer's and was not able to participate in the current round of silliness. But I think he would have enjoyed it.
