Rwatson, apart from the extreme language he uses when his buttons are pushed, I have to agree with RF on this one. He's recently posted a few "memorabilia" of past water speed record runs, including a moving YouTube edit of Donald Campbell's fatal last run set to the memorial song composed in his honor.
Lee Taylor was a legitimate record holder, having successfully broken Campbell's record by more than 10 mph, holding the record for 11 years before Ken Warby, with the official support of the Australian Air Force, set the current record. Taylor died in much the same way as Campbell, the result of his boat hitting an unexpected small wave at more than 270 mph.
The fact that Warby's record has stood for almost 30 years indicates the extreme challenge of going more than 300 mph on water. I've only skimmed some of the engineering literature on the subject, but the combination of aero- and hydro- dynamic forces, maintaining stability a few inches above the water without either flying higher or pitching down more than a degree or two, controlling a machine that is simultaneously moving through two fluids, one of which is 800 times more dense than the other, behaving like a solid at those speeds, and whose surface characteristics can change from moment to moment, .... I can see why you might say they aren't boats, but, like all hydroplanes, they are.
RF, thanks for posting those reminders of past record runs. I know there are a few groups hoping that CAD and computerized simulations will enable them to overcome the challenges of extreme speed hydroplanes and raise the record. I wish them all the best.
