Hi all, sorry for the wait but it wasn't for lack of trying on our part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfJK5ycx_hg

An even higher res version will be available for download off this site later today.

On the first run I had the wing sheeted in to 15-18 degrees. On the second fateful run I focused on bringing it in to the optimal 10 degrees. The wind had built by a knot or so and although the mean average was around 23 knots... that means gusts to 25. We have taken the B+G wind sensors off the back for record runs so I can only guess that a gust like this and having the wing in hard is what caused VESTAS SAILROCKET to accelerate so hard to the point of overloading. Perhaps I should have been more cautios but after the stability and control of the first run and previous runs in even stronger conditions I simply thought that this was not the time to hold back. It is an 'outright world speed sailing record' attempt after all. In the end it was no doubt a combination of effects brought on by the newfound speed and high apparent wind speeds that come with it. VESTAS SAILROCKET would have turned that 23 knot breeze into a 50+ knot apparent wind gail coming from around 26 degrees off the bow.

As you could imagine, we did do some substantial damage to the wing. You don't get away with a crash like that lightly. Thanks to the brilliant design by AEROTROPE... it has survived and it is fixable by us here in Walvis Bay. We are already well into it and hope to be back on the water  for more runs in the near future.

More important is the issue of understanding and preventing this from happening again.

Malcolm is working hard on this with input from all the team. We want to dampen the whole boat down a little and approach these speeds again from a point of safety. We will angle the foil a few degrees more so it is pulling the front planing surface down harder and stand the rig up so it is pulling up less. We had already begun moving in this direction and you can see that the leeward pod isn't flying quite as high as it had in some of the previous runs. We think that the main foil may be flexing a little more than we anticipated and that we should speculatively account for this with safety in mind. We will also look at adding 'lift-spoiling' devices on the inboard end of the beam. From my perspective I will be a little more cautious of how aggressively I sheet in. The main flap wasn't even pulled in on the flying run. When it is it helps keep the nose down.

The team is doing a brilliant job here and yesterday we really began to make solid progress towards getting back on the water. It is just beginning to dawn on us what we have achieved and the potential of where we are going. To make such huge gains at this end of the speed range is staggering.

We have had so many people calling, e-mailing and simply dropping in to give their support and encouragement. I want to let you all know that we appreciate it and every e-mail and comment posted here gets read out, saved and shared.

It was really nice to get one from the Hydroptere team. It is great to have such a hot boat to compete with. We both desperately want to be number one but I think we both appreciate the other teams efforts and presence. In the end we sent them all our GPS data to see if they got the same numbers as we did using their programs. They did. Although we are ahead of them now... I by no means think we will be for long as I'm sure they are going to hungry to get their 'fastest boat' title back.

On another note, On the record run... after 40-50,000 odd sea miles... my little koala mascot flew out of my rash vest and is gone. I figured he either said enough was enough... or figured I didn't need him any more... On the next run we flipped the boat!!! Good luck out there Kev, I hope you enjoyed all the sailing as much as I did. You checked out in style.

Cheers, Paul.

p.s. the helmet stays. There is a real helmet inside by the way. The fairing will be heavily drilled and cut so as to snap off with minimal force. My neck is a bit sore and yes I was very lucky.