Future of Engineering

At the outset, the race seems lopsided. A single kayaker is outmanned against an Olympic-style K4 craft with four oarsmen. As expected, the foursome achieves an early lead. What happens next, however, is miraculous. The kayak accelerates to triple its speed. The kayak wins by more than a length. Einar Rasmussen arranged the informal 200-M challenge as a demonstration. The four-time Norwegian kayaking champion and physics expert and his partner, kayakbuilder Peter Ribe, have created what they hope will become the fastest human-powered craft in history—the Flyak.

There’s nothing supernatural about the Flyak’s acceleration, as the name implies, the Flyak “flies.” Its wings are underneath the water, in the form of front and rear hydrofoils. The more the surface area of a hull touches the water, the greater the vehicle’s resistance.

Once the rider works the speed up to roughly 10 KMH (6 MPH), the Flyak is ready for take-off. The energy on the oblique foils propels the hull up above the water’s surface. Once airborne, the velocity gained from paddle strokes increases dramatically. Theoretically, the Flyak can achieve speeds nearly twice as fast as conventional championship-level racing kayaks

The foils are removable and interchangeable through a hand-screw apparatus behind the seat. By removing the foils, the craft can be maneuvered like a conventional kayak

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Labels: Design-Engineering, Fluid-Dynamics, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering, Naval-Architecture