Well we have just finished doing the full assembly of VESTAS Sailrocket 2 and she now sits quietly beside us under her soft cover. Nick has finished fairing the repaired main foil and it has been fitted to the boat and the beam repair has had her first coat of undercoat in preparation for tomorrow's top-coat. 

We are pretty much ready for action.

I am very happy to be back in the hunt. Things could have been way different if the main foil had of failed the recent load test. It didn't so here we are. Probably in better shape than we were before the recent mishap.

A few improvements have already been added in the form of more HARKEN blocks in the mainsheet in order to reduce friction and the addition of a wing-extension flap control so that I can manually adjust the flying height of the leeward pod during a run. I have decided against an active system until I just try this. I figure I can pre-set the flap so that it will generate about 70-80% of the lift required to fly and then just tweak the last bit. The fact is that I don't need to play the mainsheet during a run... just let it go in an emergency and there is only very little steering to be done once comitted to a 500 meter course... so I might as well go fly a pod!

The weather is beautiful today. Blue skies with hardly a breath of wind. Some times it is nice when it is like this as you can get so much more done. Working outside in the cold, strong wind gets tiring. The tools get blown away, you get sand in everything and the resin stops curing with the cold. The funny thing is that we are so used to the wind turning on around lunch time that it completely unsettles my mental clock when it does this. It's 6 p.m. but it feels like lunchtime.

So here we are, back on full standby. Every time we bounce back I appreciate so much the sight of the fully rigged boat sitting beside the container ready for action. To me it's one of the most beautiful views of the project.

It is now only 10 days until the record attempt starts officially. The next week is shaping up with a very solid wind forecast. If it pans out then it will be a perfect lead into a record attempt as we should get the chance to push for the required speeds of 60 knots and above. We will only really know if we are truly in the ball game for the outright world record if we see these speeds. It is entirely possible that we still have to learn a few tricks to get up there in which case this will be just what we need.

The kitesurfers are patiently waiting for more breeze down in Luderitz. The clock is also ticking for them. They need one more big forecast if any magic is going to happen. We too watch their forecast with great interest. I'll be perfectly happy if they leave the damned hurdle alone for once.

During our repairs and quiet periods we have been watching the Volvo Ocean and the Transat Jacques Vabre race. It has been disappointing to see so many failures on so many boats. The boats are so highly strung and get pushed so hard that failures are inevitable yet I can't help but feel that there is something wrong with modern yachting. Too many are still falling apart. I'll leave it at that for now. I feel for all those teams who see their dreams dashed by that horrible cracking sound. It's a truly shit feeling but with every dawn comes the resolve to push on and make things right.

Righto, beer-o-clock.

Well done Nick and Alex.

Cheers, Paul