Greenland Preliminary Report

Hi guys!!!

Just got back. Wow what a trip. I'm not sure if you read our messages on our website, but an incredible trip in the most severe arctic conditions. COLD!!!!!!!!! and windy, and windless.... 

The big news is the sled is a real success. We got it right. You all did the most amazing job in design and construction. The level of workmanship was so high, not a bolt came undone nor anything broke. 

The real story of this trip was that the weather was far more extreme than we could have imagined. We were there a month earlier than my last trip, and we ran into a pattern of very violent storms followed by clear, cold calms with temperatures down to -40C. The result was we only got a fraction of the usable wind I got on my last trip. The pattern was often that the wind would pick up, we'd head off, then after a few hours we'd be enveloped in a white-out, with winds blowing over 30 knots. We'd put the kites down, fight to put the tent up (without it blowing away) then sit out the storm. We'd wake up the next morning to lighter winds, head off again, before the winds died a few hours later. There'd be a few days calm, the the cycle would repeat its self. Needless to say, in conditions like this we weren't able to make the 1000km+ distances we'd hoped for. In the end we did a bit over 700km. 

What we did get though, is the chance to test our gear and ourselves in the toughest polar conditions, and crucially in the whole range of conditions you actually get, rather than you hope to get. We found, as hoped that the sled is quite a bit faster than skis. Skis would become unstable at about 30-35 km/hour, where the sleds were quite happy at 40km/hour, loaded up with 100kg+. I reckon the sleds have a 20% speed advantage over skis, which is a hell of a lot. The seats were super- comfortable, and the ergonomics really good.

The surprising thing was how the sleds performed when there wasn't any wind. We could have chosen not to haul the sleds at all, but there were so many windless days we had no choice. We learned this a critical part of the sled's design- they need to be as efficient to drag as to sail. Here we got very close, but can still do some work to optimise the performance. The top hat bit so well that when you'd drag the sled, it was a bit like pushing a car with the steering locked- you had to drag--steer it. Man-hauling is such a nightmare that even small sources of extra friction like that make a big difference. I've got a few ideas to make the sled a bit more slippery to haul- I'll write a detailed report this week. 

So in short, we imagined we'd go to greenland, get ideal conditions, and break records. instead we got the toughest weather that place can throw at you, and came away knowing we'd built a superior technology that can handle one of the toughest places on earth. Pat, Andrew and I are pretty psyched now for antarctica. Our design is good, really good. I reckon the PL kitesled will become the standard design for this sort of thing. 

I'll write more soon. 
Time to thaw out!

Ben

Ben Deacon, 11 May '06