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As someone stated above this is probably just a redbull commercial, not really a race, and we are not really the target audience. But still it leads to some interesting questions about speed.

"straight down wind" ? humm.. apparent wind wise the AC72 is close reach to clause hauled, true wind can not be straight behind. I watched the video again, it's hard to tell what the real wind angle is though. But it looks like Kai is using a big kite, so wind is probably say 20 kts, and he might be going say 25 kts which is already quite fast for a surf board on chop.

Those AC72 can go like 3 times the wind speed (in light winds of course, there's an upper limit) and I believe kites only go slightly faster than the wind, someone correct me if I'm wrong. So it seems the only chance for a kite against a race boat is in very strong winds on very flat water... Unless Oracle spares 0.1% of their budget for a true race kite as someone else suggested maybe ...

ac72 always looks close hauled due to apparent wind. If the wind is straight behind to the mark both the kite and ac72 will race a single tack 150 degrees, neither needs to jibe since they don't have to go inside a gate. Kites can also go 3x wind speed in the right conditions but they are a lot slower than the ac72. ac72 one of the fastest sailboats ever made, I would put my money on it against hydroptere.

I think it is pretty cool to see cross sport fun. Thought one of the crew on the Oracle boat comes off as a complete douche it looks like they had a lot of fun.

Also if the the whole $1500 board probably comes from the 15 mill boat...it just sounds better...and if he actually was on a raceboard it would be closer..

great video the Oracle is an incredible machine. I'd like to see the same race in 25+ knots in 12 foot swells. I didn't know Bruno Mars was a kitesurfer

tautologies wrote: if he actually was on a raceboard it would be close..

No. It would not be close.

Kai used that board because it was the fastest equipment he could use. A raceboard has big fins and isn't quite as fast in a simple straight downwind race (read his facebook about this). I was watching the ac72's race today they were going 18 knots upwind at a bit over 40 degrees and 38 knots downwind at 150 degrees in a bit over 15 knots.

They are faster than you think they are.

On the downwind legs they do these hydrofoil jibes at 38 knots incredible one mistake and the whole thing would explode into splinters.

edt wrote:

tautologies wrote: if he actually was on a raceboard it would be close..

No. It would not be close.

Kai used that board because it was the fastest equipment he could use. A raceboard has big fins and isn't quite as fast in a simple straight downwind race (read his facebook about this). I was watching the ac72's race today they were going 18 knots upwind at a bit over 40 degrees and 38 knots downwind at 150 degrees in a bit over 15 knots.

They are faster than you think they are.

On the downwind legs they do these hydrofoil jibes at 38 knots incredible one mistake and the whole thing would explode into splinters.

hmm, well I think the video does not show a downwind course...it might just be for the video itself...but it doesn't even show a broad reach...

I really do not know if it would be close since I know less about the Oracle boat than I do kiting...my intention was to say CLOSER since I believe the raceboard is generally faster...especially in bumpy like that...if it is super windy and going on a reach it makes less of a difference me thinks...but hey it is all speculation.

The sailboat team is one of the best but they didn't even race against a race specialist.

I think this was just a fun kind of stunt...

There is the matter of scale. To the 72 bad chop is a tiny ripple. To go fast, kitesurfers need super smooth water - unless they use a foil.

This is a video where he has developed a self-stabilising kite and a foil that auto adjusts its depth.
If you had a kiter flying above the water, you would not need a board provided the foil kept its depth. Something like that is about the only way a kiter could win a race against one of these huge foiled catamarans - provided he didn't have to go downwind too steeply.
And he would need a more efficient kite.

edt wrote:Kites can also go 3x wind speed in the right conditions

Sorry for being skeptical, is there a video or some web site talking about that ?

edt wrote:ac72 one of the fastest sailboats ever made, I would put my money on it against hydroptere.

I am no expert but to me you are comparing a race board to a speed board. I would bet otherwise.