October 8, 1978: The Fastest Man on Water

Amazing,

I checked out the history of the water speed records on line, as Sir Donald Campbell was killed in 1965, when I was young. Campbell had actually achieved a one way of 296 mph and was only about 150 yards short of the measured kilometer in the opposite direction (I think it is a kilometer), when Bluebird became airbourne and disintegrated as it crashed back into the water. England, was in mouning when that happend.

It is quite a surprise, that the record, Ken Warby set has stood for 28 years. Either water speed records don't attract that much attention, or 320 mph is very near the maximum on water that is possible.

Does anyone know if there any reason a much higher speed could not be achieved?

It can be achieved but you would need a more resistant material to displace water and not to mention much higher strength to do so, this would mean that the boat should have constant contact with water unlike other boats that jump over the water and become airborne, either way the question is: why tha hell do you want to go fast on water?? the friction is much much greater than air???

It is obviously one of those..because it is there...type records

I would imagine it is very difficult to achieve those speeds without the boat turning into a plane...

There is an attempt on the record planned for Feb in Arizona. It is not public, but the crews are being assembled now along with the official timers.