Hi all,

Helena and I have just returned from three days trekking out in Damara Land about 200 km's North of Walvis Bay... and it was spectacular. Ah the solitude, the silence of the sunsets over spectacular vistas and the appreciation of simple pleasures like a fresh cup of tea... It was the perfect break.

Anyway, we are back... and sure enough, some things have changed in the world of speed sailing since we have been away. The WSSRC (governing body) have added a rule which basically says that the 500m outright record course must be in water over 50 cm deep (my knee joint begins at 50cm high). This effectively eliminates the possibility of wind and kite surfers from getting any benefits from ground effect in one form or another. Now like all rules it can be debated and pushed. Carrying a 50 or even 40 cm fin on a sailboard for speed sailing purposes is not viable... but it might be on another type of craft i.e. ours.

The fact is that there is a performance advantage for some craft when sailing in shallow water as they gain efficiency. We questioned the WSSRC about this some time ago and were advised that they were on the case. We are of the opinion that the outright speed sailing record for waterborne craft should be kept pure. By 'pure' I mean it should simply be the interaction of wind and water on a craft. The proximity of ground (or any other body)and its effect on the dynamics of the craft is known and it is real. To allow certain craft to push this corner of the rule would be to pollute the 'purity' of what this particular record is trying to achieve. Water could simply become a lubricant between the wind and the 'ground' (ground in one form or another). Now I see a lot of moaning on some forums from certain elements of the speed sailing fraternity who currently benefit from shallow water and a lot of their arguements I can sympathise with... but the fact is that the rule needed to get a little more specific. These same parties would be moaning their backsides off if some team of university students wanted to make a point and push the definition of shallow water much harder than they already have by building specific craft and courses to gain maximum advantage from this effect.

It does make it difficult for wind/kite surfers to determine what a viable course is i.e. "How close did you come in to the shore on that last run"? I have watched both disciplines very closely here on the Walvis Bay speed-course and noted the depth that they sail in. Typically, the windsurfers would be OK but the kitesurfers would fall foul (Many of the windsurfers would also on some runs). The fact still remains that they will still be able to sail in much shallower and hence flatter water than we could ever wish for. We draw slightly over 60 cm when planing... and generally are considering ourselves on the edge when we are in less than a meter. As far as finding the best water goes... they still have quite an edge.

I don't know if '50 cm' is the right amount and I'm sure that there will be plenty of debate on the subject. Whatever they all settle on, I personally think that it is a step in the right direction to maintain the aforementioned 'purity' of what a waterborne sailing craft is intended to be.

Now... what about the 'balloon-dragging-a-string-in-a-storm' clause?

The weather forecast still looks pretty average and we have to debate whether we should return to the UK earlier or later than planned. The useable tides are starting to creep into the afternoon again... but the wind is still absent.

Decisions, decisions.

Cheers, Paul

Well, yesterday was our last chance to sail on these tides until the next set return early next week. There hasn't been much wind anyway. the fact is that we have probably overstayed our cureent weather window welcome.

We are considering returning to the UK in the near future as our time will be better spent if we return in the windier periods. I would expect to be back in mid-August.

We will save that decision for now. VESTAS SAILROCKET is fully prepped for her next outing. We nearly got out yesterday but the wind fizzled. The absence of both wind and water over the next few days, mixed with the fact that the boat is in good shape... will allow us the rare luxury to make a foray out into the big, beautiful and ever beckoning desert. We want to see some wildlife and get our heads out of the container and away from the boat for a change.

We will make the call on whether we return to the UK based upon the weather forecast we get when we come back in a few days.

Cheers, Paul.

We are sitting here in a steady state of 'stand-by'. Every day we carry on with the tweaking whilst we wait. We didn't expect to still be here as this is not the season for good winds. We lost a month at the start of this session due to an unusual lack of wind and we have been trying at every opportunity to make the next break-through to take us further up the speed ladder.

I honestly feel that we are on the brink of a significant gain and thus find it difficult to walk away... even temporarily. we have a couple of days left on this set of afternoon tides... and then we have to wait through the afternoon low tides for the next session. If there is no wind for that week of opportunity then we will be forced to head back to the UK and spend our resources on a windier time of the year.

Fingers crossed for wind

Cheers, Paul.

Righto, here is the follow up to yesterdays Run 53... with a real photo album covering the last few weeks.

Malcolm has looked over the Run 53 data and thinks it is pretty fine indicating our best wind-to-boat speed ratio yet at around 2.43:1. I think the photos from yesterday back this up as they look very clean and with a lot less spray than normal. here are a few pics and bits of run data.

This is what we want to see. Doing around 38 knots in 16-17 knots of wind and looking tidy.

VESTAS SAILROCKET has come a long way to get to this stage of development. We hope it translates well to stronger winds.

A nice path was sailed along the Walvis Bay speed-spot. I have changed some of the wing control systems and this allows me to stall the wing rapidly at the end of the course and thus slow down quicker. The run average was 35.8 or thereabouts.

Righto... let's have a look at some pics from the darker days just gone.

This is Run 50. The rudder has departed and we are going hard into a round-up. We went form doing 35 knots at a true-wind angle of 120 to facing backwards and stopped in a little over four seconds. that has to be a world tacking record in it's own right!

The run data from Run 50 shows the course I sailed. The lee-helm was overpowering me and I couldn't run parallel to the beach. It was getting rough out there.

The aftermath. This is how we towed our poor, wounded bird back into the shore. the rudder and aft plaing surface were both torn off. What a mess! We left all the parts over at speed-spot for the night. It was the first time we had to do this.

The next day we went and brought her back piece by piece. You can see the broken platform up on the beach over the top of the wing.

Getting amongst it! cutting out all the broken bits and getting my head around the repair.

A great local friend offered to help with the rebuild. Fi-fi is seen here making the new skeg steering brackets so as to much improve some of the systems. He says 'it's nothing', to us it is everything and much appreciated. cheers to Alan Louw for letting us use the big tools!

First re-assembly of the new transom. note that the stainless rod that fixes the aft end of the skeg (on the left) is now attached to the transom rather that the rudder(on right) bracket as before. this means the systems are completely independent. the rudder brackets are also beefed up. The new, milled-alloy steering arm can be seen on the left. All the ball joints have been custom machined by Fi-fi and the trigger system for unlocking the skeg flap has now been removed. It's in the cockpit to remove any chance of it being accidentally activated whilst sailing. The B and G sensor is now recording the skeg flap angle.

A quick and basic strength test was carried out on the repaired beam...

...And splash. We're back... and about to blow off the dust in the best possible way.

Hope you enjoy the pics... now for the video.

Cheers, Paul.