A world record attempt on Friday the 13th??? Well we haven't had much luck weather-wise during this record session so we will take it whenever it comes. Unusual amounts of rain inland have affected the normal 'flows' of wind up the coast. It's becoming tiring as we are all sitting around making work and itching to get wet. Forecast winds keep moving away from us like a mirage and when we finally catch them they have usually weakened to the point where we don't even go out.

Well hopefully today will be different!

The tides and the forecast all look great and VESTAS SAILROCKET sits patiently outside all locked and loaded. The course will be good from 2 p.m. onwards.

When we came down this time we felt that we would only need to book one 28 day WSSRC ratified record attempt as that should be all we needed... but experience made us plan for a second one just in case. We have less than a week left of the first one. I think that our performances over the three runs we have done have shown that we are well within the ballpark. A couple of good days here could really see us nail this.

So fingers crossed and thumbs held for today to pan out.

Here's a pic. of the 'crows-nest' where Helena will be taking pictures from.

Cheers, Paul.

Yesterday we did manage to get a run in... our third for this record attempt.

VESTAS SAILROCKET performed flawlessly and executed a very smooth 42.5 knot 500 meter run with a peak around 44.7 knots. The average wind was 19.5 knots.

A few things were noted from the PI RESEARCH data afterwards... one in particular was mainsheet stretch under full load. I had consciously sheeted in to the optimal angle of 10 degrees as VESTAS SAILROCKET accelerated and the cleated off the rope so I could operate the flap controls on the wingsail. When we looked at the data afterwards it showed the wing easing out to 14-15 degrees at peak speed. As the rope was sheeted off in a cleat... this could only come about through stretch. We went back through our previous high speed runs and saw a similar trend when the wing was fully loaded. The ropes are as thin as can be in order to reduce weight and more importantly, windage. Although their breaking strength is way above what is necessary... it is the initial stretch from no load up to partial load which is the issue. I don't think it's a big one as long as we know about it and can trim accordingly. In some cases it might be advantageous as our craft/wing doesn't really flex or heel to unload during a gust.

The water is nice and flat during low tides... but I would prefer to operate a little above low tide to have the benefit of a long run out at the end. Having said that... this was one of the best slow-downs I have ever done. I made a few tweaks on the wing flap so that the wing feathers a bit better when I let go of the mainsheet to turn off the power. This time I was able to bring the whole show fully off the boil in a straight line and simply turn it in towards the beach. The shallow bank waiting at the end of the course proved a good incentive!

So all was good and it was great to get a run in just to keep us all on our toes.

We have built a 'crows nest' above the timing hut so that Helena can take photos from an elevated angle. This now puts her some 30' up in the air and allows her to look down on the boat. No helicopters out here you see!!! We have used the original COMPOTECH spar off the old soft sail and mounted a barrell on top of it. Helena climbs up a rope ladder and through the bottom of the barrell. It's quite a piece of kit.

One of the issues here is that it makes it impossible for her to be able to do the 'live-feed' as well... so we will have to come up with a plan 'B' for that one.

So the wind is already blowing today and we hope to be on the water earlier rather than later. In fact... it's looking pretty flash at the moment. One of these days.... one of these days.

 Cheers, Paul.

The wind has come in a little stronger than expected/predicted so we are all getting geared up and will head across to Speed-spot for the fourth time in this record attempt.

VESTAS SAILROCKET is sitting patiently outside whilst we burden her with data loggers, Trimble GPS units and onboard cameras.

We won't start the live-view until we are about to commit to a run.

Any ol' day like this could turn out to be the one. We will be running at low tide which is always a bit riskier for us as the amount of run off at the end of the course is reduced due to shallows... but we have to make the most of any weather windows we get.

Righto... let's see what's on offer.

Cheers, Paul

We don't expect to be sailing for the next few days as it seems we are to endure a light wind patch.

We will use the time to remove the wing and service all the parts. Yestereday we checked the calibration of some of the key components of the PI RESEARCH logging system to make sure the information we were getting was spot-on... It was.

It took some time to get the accurate results post processed off the TRIMBLE GPS to see what we really did down the mile the other day. In fact we only got the results back yesterday afternoon. Here they are...

Peak speed- 46.75 knots off Trimble

Best 500 meter- 45.75 knots off Trimble

NAUTICAL MILE AVG- 41.09 knots off Trimble

(Kilometer AVG- 43.35 off Trimble)

(interestingly, these numbers varied quite a bit in some instances from those taken off the GT-11 hand held units which are preferred by some other speed sailors with craft too small to carry the TRIMBLE. In the case of the 500 meter average it was by over 1.7 knots!!! I for one would be interested to see a test carried out using all three systems simultaneously i.e. A TRIMBLE, a range of hand-helds and a good old fashioned fixed wheel unit. It could be done on land on a runway.)

So all this means that we did our second best 500 meter average... but that the Mighty Dunkerbeck still has the Walvis course record by 0.07 knots over the mile. We are exactly 2 knots off Hydroptere's time. It remains a worthy time and a good benchmark for us.

We carried the penalty of a cautious start up down the whole course as I only began to gently power up towards the end as I gained confidence in the boats behaviour. We didn't actually get into the 40's for a while at the start. The kilometer average was for the second half of the run. This is probably a typical issue for the mile course as it is hard enough to find an ideal 500 meter course let alone one that is a full mile long... more if you want to hit it at full speed.

STILL LOOKING FOR BRIGHT SPARKS!!!

Just to follow on that one of our key team members/designers/sponsors at AEROTROPE are looking for someone with the right skills to join their team. Chris and the boys designed the wing for VESTAS SAILROCKET and play a major role in technical support for the project as a whole. If you are looking at this then obviously you share our interests. AEROTROPE is involved in all manner of innovative projects which share a common thread. Working with them would be a perfect opportunity to get involved with the 'nuts and bolts' of what it takes to make a project like ours work now... and in the future. Check out the position details here... http://aerotrope.wordpress.com/vacancies/

So in the mean time we will sit and wait for the wind.

Cheers, Paul.