Archive
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- June 2015
- April 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- February 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- June 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- January 2012
- May 2011
Aiming for the Olympic games
Max Salminen, a two-time Swedish Olympic sailor, aims towards the Olympic games in Tokyo 2020. To prepare himself in the best possible way, he wants to find out what rudder is the best for him and his Finn. To find out, he teamed up with Chalmers Sports & Technology and SSPAs experts in hydrodynamics and sailing to test different existing rudders.
In the Olympic sailing in 2012 (London), Max won gold medal in Star boat with Fredrik Lööf. During the Summer Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, he sailed Finn for the first time in an Olympic Game. In his continuous effort to improve his performance, Max want to maximise his performance, and one example is what rudder should he choose? He definitely had an idea and a feeling of which rudder that was the best but he wants to be sure. He asked Chalmers and SSPA to help him to find out more.
- “Right now I don’t know how much better a certain rudder is. Is there really any difference? If you haven´t tested them, you don’t really know. It will be very interesting to see if Chalmers and SSPA can help me to obtain data on this”, says Max Salminen.
SSPA has made a model of Max´s Finn. On this model, the experts attach test equipment and the rudders. Then they perform the tests in the 260 metres long towing tank, one rudder at the time.
- “We are testing in total seven different rudders and there are very small differences that makes the difference. An optimal rudder should be light and stiff. All rudders must have a minimum weight of 4 kilos, and there is a difference where on the rudder the weight is placed, and how the fibres are aligned in the laminate. Everything is of course not only about the rudder. The next challenge could be to investigate mast and sail”, says Christian Finnsgård, Senior researcher and project manager at SSPA.
- “Almost no sailors pay attention to the rudder, you just use the one that comes with the boat when you by it. One of my competitors produces his own rudder and I would also like to do that”, Max Salminen continues.
Max and his Finn in action
Take a look at this action clip on YouTube, when Max Salminen is sailing in the 2015 Finn Gold Cup Medal Race.
Photos
Max Salminen monitors the preparations before the tests in SSPAs 260 metres long towing tank.
Vendela Santén and Max Salminen share their experience in the variations of the rudders. Vendela is one of the researchers and project managers at SSPA. She has participated in the Olympic games in Athens 2004 and in Beijing 2008, and came home with a bronze medal in the 470 class from Athens sailing with Therese Torgersson, whom with she also was World champion in 2004.
Photos: Anders Mikaelsson
Olympic dinghies tested
Chalmers, Sports & Technology and SSPA collaborates with several Swedish national team sailors and Olympic aspirants for Tokyo 2020. In the Olympic classes athletes constantly strive to improve performance. To achieve this, they can either make changes on the dinghy or the way they sail. The hydrodynamic experts at SSPA performs different tests in the 260 metres long towing tank.
Sports & Technology
High performance in sports are closely coupled to technology, both when it comes to new materials and motion analysis. SSPA and the Sports & Technology at Chalmers University of Technology are cooperating in one of the sports, sailing. Joint research projects in collaboration with athletes, trainers, sports associations, industry, research institutes and universities.
How to sail an Olympic Laser class dinghy - towing tank tests
The Laser dinghy is a strict one-design Olympic class and very few, if any, alterations are allowed. So what can be done in a towing tank to provide new insights for sailors?
Towing tank
The towing tank has many applications, primarily concerning hull and propeller form optimisation for all kinds of ships or energy saving devices with respect to resistance/propulsion. A database containing over 8,000 ship hull forms provides the basis for the result analysis.