We have just returned from a very late run over at speed-spot. I was just about to can the day when the wind unexpectedly picked up. We had to move a heap of Hobie 16's to get to the water. The wind was lightish but we decided to run anyway as it would be great to make sure everything was OK. The run went well with a mean wind speed of 15.5 knots and we managed a peak just shy of 35 knots and an average of around 33.5. Everything worked very well... but it always does on these slow runs. Still, it was b****y great to be back in action with the boat still looking so pretty.

Great job by all the team.

We are back and ready for more thrills... and hopefully less spills. Only four days left of this attempt and the wind isn't looking too flash. We'll see what mother nature throws us.

damn, it's good to be back.

Cheers, Paul.

Hi all, another light wind day today... so no sailing. The good thing about this is that is a pressure free way to continue preparing for the upcoming assault on the summit. Malcolm and Richy are now in  the country so we should be in fine form team-wise.

We still need to implement the solutions to the problem in regard to the pitch-instability that resulted in the last flip. I can't wait to talk to the boys face to face so we can flesh this out.

Meanwhile, I think it's about time to ease of this dieting thing. It gets oddly addictive. I'm down to 75 kilos now! That's enough methinks!

Good winds are forecast for Tuesday.

Cheers, Paul.

Hi everyone, well I'm delighted to say that VESTAS SAILROCKET is all but back together. We hope to be ready to sail tomorrow(sunday).

As you could imagine, somersaulting a lightweight 30', solid wing-sailed  craft into the air at over 50 knots and landing wing first fully inverted.... leads to a pretty extensive job-list!!!
The team here have done a brilliant job to get everything back ship-shape. Standing here now with newly skinned wing sitting behind me... I'm actually pretty amazed at what we have accomplished.It was not only the repairs, but all the media obligations, e-mails from friends and supporters, record ratification process and day to day organisation that had to be done as well. A few times I found myself laminating carbon on one end of the table whilst replying to e-mails and uploading videos/pics on the other end! It was pretty mad.
So, now the record and subsequent flip is behind us and we are looking forward. There is one very big bottle of MUMM Champagne that remains. It sits in a wooden box under this table as I type. Every other bottle has been popped.

Malcolm and the design team are working hard on understanding what initiated the flip. Obviously once it was initiated the 50+ knot apparent wind force got under the beam and off she went... but why this time and not others? We feel we are coming closer to a full understanding. The foil has been inclined a further 2 degrees to give a larger down component. the wing will remain at the last setting. Chris and the boys at AEROTROPE are right onto looking at the dynamic model of the boat... the 'moving picture' of all the forces and accelerations brought on by gusts and turns. It is clear from the video that the boat did a slight weave before lift off and the effect of this needs to be fully considered. Chris, as usual has already come up with some pretty insightful stuff. Fortunately we have access to some pretty sharp minds who are all chipping in with all their skill and knowledge. As we work through the night here in Namibia doing all the actual physical work, it's great to know that they are dealing with the science.

If we can keep that nose down and maintain the control we have had throughout the last few runs, we have no doubt we can achieve runs over 50 knots. It is an 'if' but the more we look into it the more the issue becomes understood and the outcome predictable. I was pretty impressed in the end with how VESTAS SAILROCKET performed. It was exactly how Malcolm predicted. I was getting ready to sail in stronger winds to achieve runs over 50 but he always maintained that it would be down to flat water and winds of a little over 22 knots. Spot on.

I have watched the video many, many times now. (I wish I had the onboard camera... but thanks to the total incompetence of those who supplied the original dud... we missed out and still don't have one! What is wrong with you people? We throw money at you and only junk comes back! To miss that somersault onboard was criminal). It was pretty spectacular and I am grateful for getting out un-injured. I don't think it will affect the way I sail the boat in the future other than to be a little more respectful of the power at hand. There won't be any 'Maverick flashback' moments only a little more caution based on experience.
During the next runs I want to have a calm moment in the cockpit at over 50 knots. A moment where I just enjoy the 'here-and-now' of sitting in this wonderful boat as it does it's stuff. It's the moment that you work towards for all those years and I don't want to miss it. It will only be a passing split second... and I will need to be calm and in control to realise it... but I want that moment. it will remain forever.

Unfortunately George Dadd had to leave us as he had already pushed back a number of prior comittments to stay for the record. George was a huge assett and put everything into his work. He was fundamental in helping design and build the new control package that was the real breakthrough for us. I pushed him hard and was constantly on his case... I'm so glad that he saw the reason and results of that pressure. It was a brilliant few months for George who will go back to his Marine Engineering course at Southampton University with an absolutely priceless experience firmly under his belt. Thanks for everything George.
Replacing George will be Richy Pemeberton. Richy has been with us from the start and actually designed the foils we are sailing with. He's a Doctor of Hydrodynamics which I hope means he is pretty handy with sand-paper! Richy should be arriving with Malcolm tomorrow (sunday) evening. Malcolm is hopefully coming down to witness the culmination of a lifes work.

We have 6 days left to have a shot at this record. The weather has been pretty crazy recently and we haven't actually missed much. All we ask is another day like the last one please.

To all of you who have, emailed, commented on 'you-tube', phoned, skyped or just dropped in to support and encourage us. Thankyou very much. IT ALL GETS READ AND SPREAD. We will do all we can to do it justice.

We are still waiting for the nitty-gritty details of ratification but there shouldn't be any issues. We must continue to raise the hurdle as I'm sure both Hydroptere and the Macquarrie Innovation boys are keen to knock the 'Rocket' off its perch.They are both capable so we must push on.
We hope to be ready to sail tomorrow. We would like to do a shake-down run first before going all out.

Cheers, Paul and the team.

Hi all, sorry for the wait but it wasn't for lack of trying on our part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfJK5ycx_hg

An even higher res version will be available for download off this site later today.

On the first run I had the wing sheeted in to 15-18 degrees. On the second fateful run I focused on bringing it in to the optimal 10 degrees. The wind had built by a knot or so and although the mean average was around 23 knots... that means gusts to 25. We have taken the B+G wind sensors off the back for record runs so I can only guess that a gust like this and having the wing in hard is what caused VESTAS SAILROCKET to accelerate so hard to the point of overloading. Perhaps I should have been more cautios but after the stability and control of the first run and previous runs in even stronger conditions I simply thought that this was not the time to hold back. It is an 'outright world speed sailing record' attempt after all. In the end it was no doubt a combination of effects brought on by the newfound speed and high apparent wind speeds that come with it. VESTAS SAILROCKET would have turned that 23 knot breeze into a 50+ knot apparent wind gail coming from around 26 degrees off the bow.

As you could imagine, we did do some substantial damage to the wing. You don't get away with a crash like that lightly. Thanks to the brilliant design by AEROTROPE... it has survived and it is fixable by us here in Walvis Bay. We are already well into it and hope to be back on the water  for more runs in the near future.

More important is the issue of understanding and preventing this from happening again.

Malcolm is working hard on this with input from all the team. We want to dampen the whole boat down a little and approach these speeds again from a point of safety. We will angle the foil a few degrees more so it is pulling the front planing surface down harder and stand the rig up so it is pulling up less. We had already begun moving in this direction and you can see that the leeward pod isn't flying quite as high as it had in some of the previous runs. We think that the main foil may be flexing a little more than we anticipated and that we should speculatively account for this with safety in mind. We will also look at adding 'lift-spoiling' devices on the inboard end of the beam. From my perspective I will be a little more cautious of how aggressively I sheet in. The main flap wasn't even pulled in on the flying run. When it is it helps keep the nose down.

The team is doing a brilliant job here and yesterday we really began to make solid progress towards getting back on the water. It is just beginning to dawn on us what we have achieved and the potential of where we are going. To make such huge gains at this end of the speed range is staggering.

We have had so many people calling, e-mailing and simply dropping in to give their support and encouragement. I want to let you all know that we appreciate it and every e-mail and comment posted here gets read out, saved and shared.

It was really nice to get one from the Hydroptere team. It is great to have such a hot boat to compete with. We both desperately want to be number one but I think we both appreciate the other teams efforts and presence. In the end we sent them all our GPS data to see if they got the same numbers as we did using their programs. They did. Although we are ahead of them now... I by no means think we will be for long as I'm sure they are going to hungry to get their 'fastest boat' title back.

On another note, On the record run... after 40-50,000 odd sea miles... my little koala mascot flew out of my rash vest and is gone. I figured he either said enough was enough... or figured I didn't need him any more... On the next run we flipped the boat!!! Good luck out there Kev, I hope you enjoyed all the sailing as much as I did. You checked out in style.

Cheers, Paul.

p.s. the helmet stays. There is a real helmet inside by the way. The fairing will be heavily drilled and cut so as to snap off with minimal force. My neck is a bit sore and yes I was very lucky.