Yesterday, a week after VESTAS Sailrocket 2 arrived in Namibia, we finally gave her a proper launch in Walvis Bay... and took our first real steps along what will be one very interesting road.

We arrived down at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club at 0630 hoping to catch the dead still morning water only to find a punchy little East wind that left the bay choppy. We proceeded to work through the priorities on the job list figuring that we would have to post-pone the towing trials until the following morning. As it turned out the winds began to subside mid afternoon so we went for it.

Yesterday was a hot and sunny day where the wind built early. It had all the trademarks of a classic, pumping Walvis Bay day. We wheeled the boat out from the tent and began to get the feel of the new trolleys and general ground handling. This included wheeling it down to the launch ramp to make sure it all fits as it should. Everything went surprisingly well and I'm confident that we can do it safely with the wing on in a fair bit of wind. It was so close to the water that it was tempting just to push it all the way in.

We are now 3.5 days in since the container doors were opened and VESTAS Sailrocket 2 was released into the Walvis Bay speed-sailing wilderness. We have spent that time getting all the basic facilities organised and finishing off the trolleys to make actually getting from the container to the the water a safe and reliable process. The new boat is bigger and heavier... and hence is more cumbersome. With the beam and the rig now at the back of the boat, the whole rig raising process will need to be changed.

 Today was agreat day. A special day. Today was the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people who care about the adventure that is to follow.

Yesterday the 'Amber Lagoon' finally made it into Walvis Bay with our precious cargo onboard. Whilst things were being unloaded we re-arranged the container space at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club in anticipation of creating the space required for the new boat.