Yesterday went well-ish. As I speculated before the outing... it was good to simply turn the teams mind to sailing rather than repairing. It was a strange day weather wise. The wind built to 28 knots whilst we held VESTAS SAILROCKET fully rigged at the top of the course. We held on and waited. It wasn't the usual day... fat drops of rain had come down as we walked the boat down to the water. It could have gone either way. In the end the wind did moderate a little. As we are all about top end winds now I decided to go for it with a view to sailing with the wing slightly eased and no main flap on. I should be able to sail easily and safely in this configuration. Oddly enough the wind swung to a very unusual direction. It went more south and in the end the True wind angle on speed-spot was less than 90 degrees and thus forward of the beam for the run.

The run went smooth enough and the rudder settings were in the 'ball-park'. By the end of the course the wind had dropped to high teens/low twenties. I decided to pack it up and go and digest the days data.

The team had a few handling issues and I reminded them to stay alert and keep the foil off the sand at all times. These foils need to be in perfect shape... especially the tips. If the nose begins to rise then the top part of the foil will come out of the water meaning that the rest of the foil has to work harder. As the foil is curved, the tip has the most 'down' force angle so it might be the bit that saves our bacon. We put boots on it when not sailing and try our best to pamper it... but if the boat is mis-handled when launching or retrieving... it will dig into the beach. If it does it hard then it will compromise our whole day. It's another one of the little 'issues' that make this boat... just a little bit impractical.

Many people comment on this boats impracticality as against something like Hydroptere or a kite-surfer... as if we ourselves are not aware of it. In the end, we are testing a concept. Our first version has got very close and now threatens to top these craft in the arena for which it was specifically designed... pure speed. If we were ever to build another one... it would not look like this one... but the concept would definitely remain the same. It would also be an order of magnitude easier to handle. But that is to be considered later. Now we have two weeks left and all our attention is focused on maxxing out this Mk1. To fumble the ball now would be costly. This project has a habit of pushing us to the limits right up to the final whistle. I don't expect this session to be any different.

Today is looking windy. It's already honking and forecast to hit 30. Tomorrow looks ideal. We will go out today though. Every day counts.

Cheers, Paul.