... and looking pretty as ever. In the end there was no need to rush to get out on the water as the weather didn't demand it... so we took our time with the detailing. I am in no hurry to get to the next accident. After a big crash like the last one we need to spend some time just dialling the boat back in and making sure it is calibrated. This generally involves getting the steering system in sync with the foil alignment. We have a system of jigs and lasers to get it within fractions of a degree on land... and then we take it out on the water and check that it translates into the right rudder angles at high speed with the wing sheeted in. If it does... then we are good to go, safe in the knowledge that I will have very fine and delicate control at high speed that won't upset the boat.

Although these crashes are far from desireable... they do allow you the opportunity to do all the little jobs that sort of needed doing... but weren't critical before. We built new tip fairings for the wing... and a much safer storage setup for the super valuable TRIMBLE GPS gear. The wing has been fully re-skinned and re-rigged.

A big 'thanks' to Ian Dutoit and the team at OPTRON GEOMATICS in Sth Africa. They have once again shown amazing support by supplying us with another TRIMBLE 5700 unit. Whilst these bits of kit have shown their robustness by recording and storing our run data even after a somersault and total salt water immersion for near on an hour... they do have their limits. If we don't have one of their units onboard... then we are wasting our time down here. It really helps to have their support. We'll really look after this one guys. We just can't afford to lose it... or the precious data that it carries after each big run.

So the repairs on VESTAS SAILROCKET were pretty much finished yesterday... exactly one week after the crash... but we did the final assembly this morning and are still tweaking it at the moment. Our little team of Alex, Jeff, Hiskia, Helen and Helena have done a great job, all working for a day that we will remember forever.

The wind is no good today so we will use the time wisely. The next few days are going to be pretty full on... perhaps too strong for us. But the good days will come. We are now half way through this attempt... but have only made two runs. I'm not too concerned about that. I'll be surprised if we make more than ten all up. That last run actually gave me more confidence in the boats ability. The flip was due mostly to a structural failure. The boat itself actually felt like it was cruising at 50 knots well before the flip. If the foil had of maintained it's angle I think the boat would have simply behaved like the 1:5th scale model did all those years ago when it would lose grip at the front end. The nose would have lifted and flown off to leeward... and then dropped back down. I don't think it would have developed into a full flip. The photos clearly showed that the foil failed early in the sequence. Well done to Local tour guide operator Naude Dreyer for capturing the action from the bar at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club.

Yep, it's great to be back. One of these days it will all come together.

Cheers, Paul.

It's great to be back.