Here's a little reminder of some fond memories from special day that many of us who read this shared some time ago.

On this day three years ago the spell was broken. After 11 years of wondering if this day would ever come, on a "oh well, let's give it a shot anyway" type of day, we decided to go for a run rather than just tow Sailrocket 2 back across the lagoon to her hangar. I'm so glad we did.

 Well, to be honest, that all got a much closer to really happening than we expected when we set out. In the end the real show stopper was the same old nemesis of all speed sailors... the weather. The forecast changed rapidly and the stiff SW-WSW winds we were looking for simply faded away. These winds would have enabled us to run in close to the Cause-way along the shore where the water is flat and we have places to rig, launch, lower and retrieve the boat. Alex and I went out in a RIB (Thanks Tom Peel) and surveyed the course on the expected 1.25 meter tide.

 So far so good.

Sailrocket 2 has come together very nicely. A big thanks to all those who have helped or offered to.

Many hands made light and fun work of re-skinning the whole wing whilst Alex and I went over many of the little details of the boat and her systems. This boat was built to be used and to last. She's in good shape and putting her back together has given us a lot of confidence to take her out for a run.

THE SKINNING AND RIGGING TEAM. THANKS AGAIN.

 Today started with a lovely, blue and crisp Autumn morning. When the alarm went off I commented to Helena how  dark it now was at 6 A.M. We had our own special brew of coffee, jumped in the van and drove down to the Sailing Academy. It's only just over a mile away. The sun wasn't quite up and there was little action. We opened the creaky doors of the container and let the dawns early light flood in. The container had been taken over as a workshop and home to the Sailrocket 3 models but now they have served their purposes and been cleared out.