Walvis bay delivered the goods today with perfect conditions that would have enabled us to push to the limits... but we aren't ready for that just yet.

We will approach that stage with caution. Seeing as we have just fitted the new curved foil we need to make sure that the complex steering/control system is 'dialled in' to it. Remember that at high speed we are trying to operate the rudder within fractions of a degree of movement. To do this, we need to have the rudder aligned practically perfectly with the loaded angle of the main foil. It is after all the main foil which determines the centre line of the boat and not the boat itself. As mentioned in an earlier blog, we use an array of Lasers, jigs and digital equipment to do this. It took two days... but the effort seems to have paid off.

I want to make full-on record attempts ASAP but understand that this will happen sooner if we spend the time now getting all these aspects right.

So we headed across the Lagoon to 'Speed-spot' with a fairly new team with our focus not on top speed, but on checking first settings. I guess it was a shake-down run.

'Speed-spot' was literally teeming with birdlife. Flocks of flamingoes, Pelicans, gulls... and other stuff beyond my limited twitching powers. Here's a few of Helena's pics just to give you an idea of some of the other wonderful benefits of speed sailing in Africa.

Alright, back to business... The wind was building to 20 knots as we hit the top of the course. I didn't want to do a high 40's run straight off in case something was amiss. I decided to only sheet the wing in to around a mild 18-20 degrees instead of the 'full-bore' 10 degrees... and not pull on the main flap. If all went well then I would sheet in a little harder towards the end of the run.

It was great to be back in the cockpit on such a glamorous day. VESTAS SAILROCKET felt just as sweet as I remember. The start up was easy and the speed came quickly.

I spent most of the run monitoring the rudder angle to make sure it was in the 'fine' band giving fractional inputs rather than the 'coarse' band which can easily upset the boat by either sending it into a round-up to windward or unloading the front end in a bear away (it reduces the angle of attack of the inclined foil which also reduces the 'down' component. This factored in the flip scenario). With the wing eased, the boat will tend to want to turn towards the beach more than usual. When everything looked and felt fine I sheeted in to around 14 degrees and noted that the rudder trim approached zero i.e. the middle of the 'fine-trim' band. The time spent in setting the boat up had been vindicated as it shows how well we are coming to understand the whole boat in theory, set-up and sailing.

The front end felt firmly planted and the pod wasn't flying... but then it doesn't get light until over 42-3 knots. All in all it was a pretty good run for the intended purpose.

The mean average wind speed was 19.18 knots, peak speed was around 41.4 knots with a 500 meter average of 38.62 knots.

It would have been better to have slightly less wind so that I could have sheeted everything into their proper angles without going ballistic.

Despite doing a clean run, we headed back to the shore to digest all the information and double check that everything was as it appeared. So far so good.

The recent rains had caused some of the normally dry river beds to run. The local waterboard seems to think its clever to put all the bore pumps in the middle of the river beds. When the rivers run... all the pumps get washed away... and the town runs out of water. So no water for the past four days... or even for the next week or two apparently. I would hate to be running a restaurant or hotel.

So this is the most complete team we have ever had down here. It's really good to also have access to off-site team members like George and Richy to help digest the pile of data we get after each run. The project as a whole is really powering into this final push to the summit. I hope the summit really is as close as it feels.

Cheers, Paul.

Greetings everyone as all the pieces begin to drop into place for no doubt another action packed VESTAS SAILROCKET speed session.

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of our second WSSRC ratified assault on the World Outright Speed Sailing Record. The rest of the team are currently on their way across the 400 odd kilometers of desert from the airport in Windhoek to the operations base here on the coast in Walvis Bay... along with Mike Ellison from the WSSRC.

We have been busy here co-ordinating all the bits and pieces necessary for such an attempt. Helena has been beating down the logistical mountain and chasing all those who need the whip...whilst I have been preparing the beast for what is to come. This has involved the careful modifications and fitting of the new curved main foil. It's quite a detailed process. Fitting fences is always a fiddly process on a straight foil let alone a curved one. We have three fences fitted at various angles and depths down the foil to prevent ventilation (air getting sucked down from the surface at high speed). Actually fitting the foil to the boat takes about a day and a half as we have to be very precise with every angle. The speeds and forces we are aiming to deal with are going to push this foil to its limits. In order to average around 51 knots down a course... we will need to be ready for peaks of around 55 knots, maybe more. Errors of a fraction of a degree will have a noticable effect. The lawn of the Walvis Bay Yacht Club was littered with Laser levels, digital inclinometers, rulers, foil alignment jigs and computer angle sensors. I hope Malcolm doesn't want to change anything in the near future as it is a long winded process.

The old and the new. I'm back on the '0' carb diet to get below 75kg's (1 more to go)

There has been very little wind since we arrived leading some of the locals to question what we are doing here. I'm glad to say that it has returned. Yesterday was a glamorous day wind wise... but the tide was low... so strictly one for the windsurfers. Today it is going to honk!!! It's windy already and I reckon it will hit near 30. Good ol' Walvis. Looks like we have hit it spot on. We have been here twice before at this time of year so we know it blows.

New team member Alex adams from Weymouth has been getting to grips with the boat as against his normal steed which is a Foiling Moth. This is going to be an interesting couple of months for Alex.

He can be seen here touching up the 'Down' flaps on the inboard end of the beam which will help keep an aerodynamic down-force inboard end of the beam at speed. You can see the larger outboard flap near Alex's left shoulder.

The wing-sail has been shrunk down with a heat gun and we are preparing to fit it to VESTAS SAILROCKET before it gets too windy. We hope to be ready for sailing tomorrow but we won't quite be in record setting mode as we will need to dial in all the rudder/control systems to the new foil. Hopefully we are heading in the right direction with this one. It might take a few days to get it sorted... but once it is, bloody well look-out because we're not going to hold back. We are here to finish this once and for all.

Let's see what happens,

Cheers, paul

Well this one comes to you direct from the hot-seat in the container at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club. We managed to duck through the snow storms in the UK and arrived safe and sound in the sunshine and heat of Namibia. There has been very little wind to date... but it shows signs of picking up.

 One by one we start the process of 'spinning plates' again. There is a lot to organise.

Here is just a short one to let you know what we are up to and what the plan is.

 For those of you who are not fully up to speed, On the 3rd of December, 2008, VESTAS SAILROCKET began collecting records by setting a new 'B' class world record of 47.36 knots over the 500 meter course. This gave her the unofficial title of the worlds fastest boat... but still 3.21 knots short of the Outright world record currently held by the kitesurfers. The team took VESTAS SAILROCKET back to the top of the course with a view to the Outright record. On the following run the craft lost 'pitch stability'. The nose lifted up at near on 60 mph and the shooting match performed a spectacular semi-loop. No-one was injured and VESTAS SAILROCKET was back in action around two weeks later. Un fortunately the good winds required for a record attempt had gone and the team decided to pack up and return when conditions would be more favourable (hopefully now). Around 16 days after their success, the Australian Macquarie Innovations team took the un-official fastest boat title by averaging 48.11 knots. The objective of the VESTAS SAILROCKET project is to get the outright world speed sailing record so they have returned to Walvis Bay, Namibia in 2009 to do this. Every record we get on the way official or un-official is a bonus and enjoyed in the appropriate manner:)

Helena and I arrived back in Namibia four days ago and have been arranging things for our next record attempt with VESTAS SAILROCKET.

We have booked our second WSSRC ratified record attempt to begin on the 20th of February. It will go for 28 days. we have put aside three months in total for the whole session.

We will have a strong team down here as we have seen the benefits of having good people working on all aspects of the project. We need to focus on all aspects of the program during these runs and not just the boat. Our recent success wouldn't have had a fraction of the impact if it wasn't for Helena and Brad doing such a good job of recording the events.

The team at DesignCraft have built a new stronger curved foil which we will fit to VESTAS SAILROCKET mainly in an effort to make  the craft safer at high speed and prevent the nose from lifting off again.

We want to have everything in place and functioning perfectly for Day 1 of the record attempt.

So that's about it. I believe that the  Macquarie Inn. team is also carrying on with their  attempts down in Sandy Point, Australia. Hopefully the bush-fires aren't affecting them. My home town of Healesville is right in the thick of it all and friends I have spoken to today are on the front-line. You have no doubt where your real home is when events like this befall friends and family. Good luck to you all.

So get ready for more thrills and spills party-people because it's about to all kick off down here once more.

Cheers, Paul

Righto, we've had enough of the wonderful British weather and it's time to head back to Africa and fire VESTAS SAILROCKET up for another record attempt.

Whilst it's been kind of the Macquarie Innovation boys to be keeping the seat warm for us, the constant media bombardment from their overactive PR machine is too much so we will have to get back out there and set things straight;)

Those guys were a huge inspiration to me through some pretty formulative years. Way back around 1985-86 when I was racing around Port Philip Bay In Victoria, Australia, we would cross paths with their incredible and awe inspiring C-class cats. I'll never forget during one of the VYC OAKS (One of a kind) races where we were representing the Hobie 18's and Victoria 150 joined in. It was a four triangle course and they started five minutes behind us... and lapped us twice. The grace, the whistling, the hull flying an trapezing on the very broad downwind leg... it blew me away. Years later and way North in Airlie Beach, I chanced across a copy of Bernard Smiths 'The 40-knot sail boat' whilst working in a yacht chandlery. It was a chance encounter that would ultimately change my life. One of the other things I remember of that job was that there was a poster promoting deckgear on the wall showing Yellow Pages Endeavour in full flight. I ended up laminating that picture and still have it to this day.

I think its great that they are still hard at it. I must say it amuses me that after 15 odd years of concerted effort that they waited a mere 16 days after we finally topped them... to finally beat their old time on YPE. Well, you get that. I am confident that we can wring a few more knots out of VESTAS SAILROCKET and hope that mother nature is kind to us down there. Whilst it was fun and a great relief to pop out on top of the boats with our first record... we must remain focused on the real goal... the Outright Record. we haven't made the summit yet. It looks like the Hydroptere team will be out of action until April some time but like us, they will have learnt from their crashes and will probably come back better for it.

The whole challenge has been one of control and I still believe we have the most stable craft. Sure, that flip might indicate otherwise but we believe we can approach that problem from a point of understanding and safety. A new main foil is currently being built at DESIGNCRAFT and will be fitted for future runs. It has a few detail changes but is slightly curved as well. PI RESEARCH are servicing all the electronics as we work together to make the perfect system which is ruggedised for the harsh environment it experiences. The TRIMBLE GPS system is back in Sth Africa at OPTRON also getting a service. It's amazingly tough stuff and we are grateful for this as it was submerged in salt water for almost an hour after the flip and survived unscathed. If it hadn't... we would have lost the run.

Malcolm and I went over to the Isle of Wight recently and did a few presentations to VESTAS. It was really nice to see familiar faces and the genuine interest from within the company. There are people there who have followed us from the very beginning as they were building blades downstairs... and we were building VESTAS SAILROCKET in the same shed upstairs. I was looking through some old back-up hard drives the other day and went down that ol' memory Lane. So it's great that they are sharing the journey with us.

OK, that's enough... back to sorting out the logistics.

We will, as always, keep you posted.

Cheers, Paul.