I like to travel - five around the world trips.
Here at the pyramids and Spinx in Egypt.
Pack Light & Beat the Heat. E-book
Man shrinks basic luggage to 1 ounce, 30 g! Also travels with more comfort in heat!
Ultra Compact Travel Gear for the tropics from 1 ounce, 30 g, - all in the pockets - saves $$$. Clothes for cold weather also goes into the pockets. Clothes and accessories that keep you cool in the heat. Pack Light & Beat the Heat. E-book. Long version
Skate sailing in wings How to build & sail. A story. The Wing Sail a possible Speed Record Breaker?
I think I was first to show that skate sailing in wings is much faster that its predecessor, with the sailor standing to leeward of a fabric sail.
Here I sail one of my Ice-Wing skate sails on ice. I am inside the wing which hangs on my shoulders. Skates on the feet. The front of the wing is transparent. Top speed is around 120 km/h, 75 mph.
I have designed, built and raced some twenty of these wing skate sails.
An Ice Wing cockpit is cramped. Generally a thinner wing is faster. I designed, built and sailed this - and 20 others.
Sailing video. Very light wind 4 knots, 2 m/s, note flag movements. Still speed is 25 mph, 40 km/t.
The view from my humble abode. Beyond the water, a canal, is the Karlberg Palace.
The canal is connected to the oceans. There is a public jetty just outside so you can arrive by boat for a visit. The palace dates back to 1634.
A view of the magnificient Karlberg Palace. (Opposite my flat.) The Palace through the seasons.
Abstracts
One of my hobbies is to design, build and race skate sails. I do it for the intellectual challenge of trying to come up with faster designs and the joy of winning races with a technically superior sail.
The picture above shows me sailing one of my wing skate sails. I have ice skates, 15 cm (6 inches) high, on my feet and the wing is supported on my shoulders with straps. I lean into the wind and balance in a state between flying and falling. I call my skate sails Ice Wing.
As far as I know I was the first to show that standing inside a wing sail was the way to sail much faster on skates. Before the sailor stood on the leeward side of a single layer cloth sail. On the drawing board are speed sailing designs which shall be capable of 160 km/h (100 mph). At present I am working on a totally different concept which I believe will be much faster than the stand inside wing skate sails, especially in light wind.
Any check in luggage Sir?
No I have it all here in the
shirt pocket, 1 oz, 30 g.
It's only a one month trip!
The basic outfit consists of one pair of long pants and one shirt. These only pants have four large pockets for the gear.
I packed Ultra Compact and Light, about 0.3 gallon, 1.5 liter, 0.6 kilograms, in the pockets.
Some 30 items, of which some 25 are specially made or modified to be compact.
Sweater, volume 3 liters, 400 g, too big for Ultra Compact Travel. I make a insulating vest, of newspaper or hotel towels if needed.
Add a wind jacket, wind trousers, gloves, socks and a hood and I may be OK down to 0 C. The Holy Grail of Travel Ultra Compact?
When I was testing my "Ultra Compact Travel Gear for the Tropics" I traveled with a friend, who had some 44 lbs, 20 kg, of luggage, and I took the opportunity to compare some parts of our luggage and ask him some questions. Photo: Upper collection of items is his medical kit, 1.8 lbs, 0.8 kg.
Two lower items, two aspirins and a small bottle of disinfectant is my medical kit, 0.3 oz, 10 grams!
I travelled Super Light, without a bag, all gear in multi pocket vest. A bold experiment?
Luggage in the pockets
of the vest. With sliced
ham, bread and a water
bottle in the vest I look
"a bit" over stuffed.
Traveling light is convenient. Since some years I wanted to try putting all in a vest with many pockets. Tried it in Romania, in September. A bit tough when temperature dropped to 9 degrees C with rain. I added insulation by putting wrinkled paper in pockets. At times I looked overstuffed. In nice weather the vest with content weighed some 4 kg.
My tailor has now made new gear and I have modified gear. Pick pocket attack went well - defense systems worked. When the Siberianskaja, the local cold strong wind, struck I used kittens to keep ears warm. -: Next trip in same sort of climate, only vest again. Next trip in the tropics, maybe no extra garments.
The position of the center white pointer directly gives total wind shift information! Starboard tack shown.
Best lift shown, pointer at right yellow marker.
At 0 lift the pointer is in between the yellow markers.
At worst header the white pointer is at the left yellow marker.
Racing sailors use shifts in the direction of the wind to win races. The wind shifts can be tracked with a tactical compass. I have designed two tactical compasses. I produce these compasses by modifying mechanical compasses of the Swedish make Silva. The compasses are used in more than thirty racing classes, mainly in Sweden.
Can technically be used by e.g. two persons to (skate) sail straight up or down wind. I may be first to suggest this technique. This kite is 22 by .5 m. I think you can sail straight up wind or down wind with it!
A not too serious result of my interest in wind propulsion, a sailing bicycle.
Hobbies: Designing, building and racing skate sails. I like to travel, I have visited some 90 countries and traveled around the world five times.
Earlier I used to race sail boats a lot: Sailing Canoe, Star Boat, Trapeze Dinghy (an Elvstroem design), Tornado Catamaran and Laser Dinghy.
I have sailed with a friend in his boat from Sweden to Island, via west England and on the return south Norway. A very rewarding three months trip, half of the time at sea.
Education: I am a Master of Science in physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. I have a degree in electronic engineering. After many years of designing skate sails I think I have become an amateur aerodynamicist.
I am hereby launching a movement for the billions of hotel guests:
"As a courtesy to the next guest please ask to get any problems fixed. Or fix it yourself"
What is this? Detail photos of something bigger
My YouTube channel 310000 visits, 100+ videos: youtube.com/c/andersansar
Copyright © 2009-2021 Anders Ansar. All rights reserved. You are welcome to use pictures and words, non commercially, as long as you include a link to my pages.
Modified Aug. 2021.