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Skiing by Zeppelin Drop

cantunamunch

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(or what a wrap weighs?)? :roflmao:

Somewhere between 60 and 80 lbs per 1000sqft, so we could hypothetically wrap the Hindenburg and only lose 5-6% of its lift capacity. 341000 sq ft * 80/1000 is a bit over 13 US tons of wrap.

That pickup Audi could have had Red Bull livery all over it for a sub-20 lb penalty.

I think they were going for a "look".
 

Erik Timmerman

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Hindenburg was hydrogen though, I don't know how many square feet that thing is, but I was thinking if you wrapped it, someone might have to stay home.
 
Thread Starter
TS
James

James

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They can't fly very high and... are often heavier than air.

"In standard operations with a maximum payload, the gas cells do not create enough buoyancy to make the whole ship "lighter-than-air." The negative buoyancy is overcome with the application of engine power. The buoyancy can change when traveling with a reduced payload and partially emptied fuel tanks, but typically the Zeppelin NT starts a journey with a net downward force of about 3,000 newtons (670 lbf); on long trips, the airship can become lighter–than–air if much of its fuel is consumed."
...
"Standard operational altitude is 300 m (980 ft), but up to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) is possible."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT
 

Erik Timmerman

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So you can only drop on short mountains, and only with a few skiers, and definitely not with a giant Red Bull wrap.
 

Jim McDonald

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Jeeves, fetch my Kore 105s pls, I'm off for some zep-skiing!
 

Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Posts
2,287
Location
San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
How fast did the blimp tow him?
We were towed anywhere from 18mph for me on a trick ski to about 40mph for the barefooter. My son was on jumpers between 25 and 30 mph while texting. He actually texted faster on the skis than on dry land - the text speed record was a standard measurement of texting speed that nerds work really hard at (The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.). He was allowed 50% slower (or some multiplier) for the activity but even that was unrealistic for a normal person on dry land. On skis on a bumpy open lake behind a blimp, he was very close!

The record blimp towed length was 9km (it was a promotion for the Samsung 9) which Guinness did certify. She skied that on jumpers at around 30mph. Speeds were pretty variable. There was rope stretch from the light 300 foot rope, blimp inertia, variable wind speed and it was just hard to hold speed.

Our pilot was fantastic at managing all the variables. Except for me. My trick ski is short and I'm not small. Going right after the barefooter where there was not really enough power to make it work well, he saw my little ski, went high and dove down for the start to give me enough power to start. My trick ski generates huge amounts of lift and requires very little energy to get up. So off into the ski I rocketed! I just held on and let the blimp lower me slowly onto the water. Smoothest landing ever! Kind of like jumping off a cliff and having bottomless powder softly catch you. I want to go blimp skiing again!

Eric
 

Eleeski

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Am I understanding this correctly? There is a Guinness world record for speed of texting while skiing behind a blimp?
No, he didn't officially get it. Too slow because it had to be close to the 20 second dry land record. The official Guinness world record that our crew got was for distance. But Richard Branson had the previous record in that.

Blimp skiing is fun - snow or water. Of course no skis got scratched on the water @focker .

Eric
 

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