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Team to concentrate on Land and Ice challenges |
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Monday, 16 January 2006 |
Without a title cash sponsor, we survive on equipment sponsorship and donations. However, doing things on very small budgets extends timescales significantly.
With this in mind we have taken the decision to shelve the water record challenge until appropriate funds are available. Without suitable resources, the development and testing proceedure is just too slow.
This means we will put all efforts towards land and ice records, with the aim of capturing them both within this year.
The Windjet land and ice craft in action
This does not mean, however, that initial trials did not go well, quite the opposite. All aspects of the craft worked as predicted. With the craft performing well at speed under kite power, the principles were proven and it was now ready to accept the solid sail that it was originally designed for.
Yet, with no dedicated full time team and only limited resources, test time on the water was pityfully small, which is no way to evolved a concept.
To make real progress, with a craft as radical as this, you need to sit on a beach, with a predictable, daily, offshore wind and a team to help launch, recover and fix the craft. Until we can acheive this, the water craft will be in storage.
Hopefully, a sucessfull land and ice record may encourage the sponsorship required to make proper testing a reality.
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