Has the 50 knot problem been defeated?

Matthew Sheahan of Yachting World ponders the questions… Is 50 knots still the magic number? Or will the latest launches go through sailing’s ‘sound barrier’ for mile after mile offshore?

The trouble with round numbers is they always feel a bit artificial, especially when we’re talking about limits. Sailing’s so-called ‘sound barrier’ at 50 knots is a perfect example. Surely it’s just too convenient that such an easily remembered half century should be a genuine physical hurdle for speed sailing?
The limit seems especially weird when you consider how long this human-defined target has been in place in light of major technical advances over the last three decades.

But remain, it has. Breaking through that ‘barrier’ without spinning out has absorbed thousands of hours of design time as teams have tried to engineer a way to get to the other side. And while it is true to say that it is no longer the complete obstruction that it once was, it is also true that bad things still happen when you get to 50 knots, in particular cavitation.

Paul Larsen’s Vestas SailRocket 2 is the only one to have completely smashed it, getting well into the 60s with peak speeds getting close to 70. But to get there took some drastic last-minute modifications fueled by gut feeling rather than science. – Full story