Hi all, 

Here I sit, sending this to you fresh from the container/operations base in Walvis Bay. It's just before 10 in the morning. Outside the skies are blue and the sun is starting to kick in. There is not a breath of wind... but it will come. Yesterday afternoon was a good ol' Walvis blow with the accompanying chill in the air.

VESTAS Sailrocket 2 is now fully rigged as we left her. We haven't added any modifications yet.

There is just three of us down here at the moment. Alex and I came down to get everything setup, get the house and sort a car out (still no car). Helena and Nick will arrive tomorrow. Once they are here we will begin easing into the sailing program. Alex and Nick will need to become familiar with the boat and how she behaves. Whilst Alex was with us on a number of occassions with the Mk1, Nick is totally new to this scene. To be honest... I only met Nick once in a chip shop in Plymouth. That was his job interview. He was well recommended by a friend so I gave him a call out of the blue, met him the next night and a little over a week later he had left his job and was on his way to Namibia to chase a world record. It's great when life tosses you a 'random adventure' card like that.

I have had a really good break away from the boat/project. We had been going pretty hard at it through the design and build with our biggest break being jumping right into another complex boat project with the last Little Americas Cup. It was good to get away from boats altogether. I found refuge in cycling over French alpine mountains... and loved it. I feel fit as a fiddle and mentally refreshed. Now I'm eager to get back to the big mission of setting a world record.

It was fun to get back into Walvis and open up the containers. the sight that awaited us reminded us of the day we packed up. We sailed right up until the last opportunity and therefore had to pack in a hurry. It had been a very productive and enjoyable session as we discovered the ways of our new toy. We celebrated in The Raft restaurant on our last night and the extent of these celebrations can best be displayed by how we finished the packing up the following day before hurriedly catching a plane.

Hmmmm... oh yeah... that!

Out she comes and up goes the tent.

We gave Johan a nudge to fix his wind indicator. This 'Namtech' piece of equipment gives accurate readings between 10 and 35 knots i.e. it starts turning somewhere in that region. Johan can be seen here using a delicate touch to install a new impellor. It may well be close to 'knocking off time' i.e. between 1100 and 1700.

Like a butterfly from a cocoon... I was actually surprised how well I remembered to put her together. There was some corrosion wherever we had high tensile steel fittings and the dreaded alloy, carbon, steel combination... but nothing the gentle art of persuasion couldn't overcome. We use all the 'good stuff' to avoid corrosion but it inevitably creeps in. The wing was in very good condition and only needed a little bit of attention around the edges before we could put it all together.

So this is our 8th session in Walvis Bay. Unbelievable. I feel calm and confident about where we are project-wise and yet fully aware that we are still relying on working our way through some unknowns in order to be successful. It's sure going to be interesting.

We will start where we left off. The plan is to try to sail the boat a little differently and see how it reacts before we make any modifications.

Hopefully we can get out on the water on Wednesday. As always, we'll keep you posted. Some good news is that we have been assured that there will be a kitesurfing speed event in Luderitz this year albeit with less riders. I hope this is the case.

Cheers, Paul