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The special wind compensation system recently adopted by Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS; International Ski Federation) to consider the effects of changing wind conditions has caused some controversy. Here, the effect of wind on jumping distance in ski jumping was studied by means of computer simulation and compared with the wind compensation factors used by FIS during the World Cup season 2009/2010. The results showed clearly that the effect of increasing head/tail wind on jumping distance is not linear: +17.4 m/-29.1 m, respectively, for a wind speed of 3 m/s. The linear formula used in the trial period of the wind compensation system was found to be appropriate only for a limited range of jumping distances as the gradient of the landing slope slows down the rate of distance change in long jumps.

A single isolated ski was suspended from a six-component wind tunnel balance and three angles, the angle of attack, the yaw angle and the edge angle were adjustable during the test. Increasing yaw angle from 0 to 15° increased the lift coefficient C L from 0.42 to 0.90 at edge angle 0° and from 0.70 to 0.87 at edge angle 10°, respectively. Increasing yaw angle also increased the sensitivity of the ski to changes in edge angle, i.e., increasing the edge angle (20°-45°) decreased the C L and the ratio C 2 L ∕C D with large yaw angles. However, to maximize the lift-to-drag ratio with a typical angle of attack of 30° in ski jumping, it may be reasonable to have an edge angle of 5°-10° on skis as the ratio C 2 L ∕C D increased from 1.24 to 1.35 when edge angle increased from 0° to 10°.