Bluebird K7 Latest

I’m a big believer in the saying: ‘ never judge a man until you’ve spent a day walking in his shoes’

A lot of stuff has been mentioned about the ‘ salvager’ and his jester hat.

He’s a big Marillion fan. The lyrics to one of their songs set him in motion. And off he went…

The Jester is a Marillion motive. I know.I’m a big Marillion fan myself- unfortunately!

Ultimately, this guy set out on his own accord , on his own mission.

To ultimately recover a legend that had been lost.

I doubt he had any idea the ramifications of his own actions what he did over 20 years ago - and where it would lead to. Time ultimately moves on, and peoples perspective changes.

But he did it.

I’m sure, his intentions were and are absolutely true.

Guys, don’t kick the the fella.

It’s a helluva emotive subject .

At least he got off his backside and did something about it.

A bit like DC.

I’m sure, his intentions were and are absolutely true.

It planed much better (ie. better than not at all) once ballasted, certainly, but still nothing like as easily as it did at Loch Fad.

Neither do I accept that the difference in trim that is evident from the photos can be explained entirely by weight of fuel, foam and pilot, but that's not an observation you are obliged to defend.

I get that someone like this can come across abrupt, rude, obstinate?

Sometimes it takes that, to achieve one’s goals.

...a litigious bellend who has clutched what isn't his to his bosom...

most definitely not a lawyer. And yet everything I do tries to turn me into one

The planing wedges contribute only a small proportion of the hydrodynamic lift at lower speeds in any case: it's predominantly the main hull/sponson forms that lift the boat initially, with the planing shoes taking over as speeds rise.

If it wasn't for the fact that the photos show a distinct difference in trim (anyone with experience of boats will tell you from gut feeling alone that this is more than can be attributed to an 80 gallon fuel load and the pilot), I'd be tempted to attribute the difference wholly to the fact that they were running in much rougher water than the glass-calms that Campbell used to depend on for record attempts. Rougher water helps 'unstick' hydroplanes (and was undoubtedly a factor at Loch Fad, but not enough to explain the difference on its own, I think).

Bluebird was always pretty marginal at getting up onto the plane. Apart from having to relocate the front spar because it originally interfered with her bow wave at lower speeds, they had to add a set of 'strakes' or fins under the nose (along with angles on the internal edge of the sponsons) to help lift her. This is her original form, without the strakes:



And this shows them fitted:



In addition to which, it was always a balancing act between adding thrust gradually enough to make her plane, whilst not so fast that the nose-down moment cause by the thrust line being above the centre of hydrodynamic drag made her 'plough' or 'submarine'.

This was to a large extent deliberate: it was well known, even back when she was designed, that the big risk with conventional (2 points fo'ard) 3-pointers at speed was front-end lift. It was also the reason behind the separate sponsons. Better to have to nanny the boat onto the plane, than to erode the safety margin at high speed. As it turned out, that safety margin proved insufficient after all (albeit at a speed 70mph faster than her original design speed).

They knew that the reverse three-pointer arrangement used by Cobb's Crusader was aerodynamically more stable, but K7's design was partly a hangover from the original R37-engined, prop-driven design (the so-called 'C-boat', which had been designed to take the Harmsworth Trophy, not the WWSR), and partly paranoia over the loadings on a single forward planing shoe, following Cobb's accident.