Well, here we go again. It looks like we have two sailing days left as far as the forecast goes... and the forecasts look good. It is only 11-30 here and we are getting ready to take the boat across first. I want to be absolutely ahead of the game today. We spent the morning doing full rig-ups and calibrations on the lawns here and I am confident that she is ready for battle.

Today we have the option of tomorrow... tomorrow we have no option but to go in whatever we are given.

Those of you on the south coast of the UK should be able to watch the action on the Meridian news as Sally Simmonds is over here reporting ... and getting right in the thick of the action!!! She has seen what we do first hand and gets just as excited about the days possibilities as we do.

So hey-ho... here we go.

The pressure builds... but I feel fine.

C'mon Walvis... give us a another shot.

Cheers, Paul.

Well, I'll try and be brief as it's late and we have shed loads to do.... fortunately it's not too bad as it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

We pushed it today in winds that remained up and down. Twice we hit peaks over 51 knots and managed to better previous best's. On the first run it looked like we beat the windsurfers once and for all... but we are still having trouble with the TRIMBLE... (formerly the 'mighty' TRIMBLE). It is dropping our data for periods up to twelve seconds long and that just screws us royally. we are wasting our time here if that doesn't work.

On the last run... our third for the day... I noted as we slowed down that the forward bridle line had pulled clean from the cleat. I now had no slow down function for the wing and hence powered into the beach. Hiskia struggled with the boat whilst I raced forward to try and manually handle the wing. Things got out of shape and the damned boat tacked on the shore... whilst wrapping itself around the support Rib and its anchor. We were off again. I clambered aboard the nose and scrambled back to the cockpit. It was totally flooded as the drain was open. it was like climbing into a bath. Bloody hell. I struggled to get the controls in order and the boat going where I wanted it to. The wing gybed and I caught it on the mainsheet. Amazingly... it was all intact and nothing had broken.

Now the real fun was about to begin. I still had no 'go-slow' switch on the wing... so it automatically powered up as determined by the flap settings. I took off across the lagoon considering my options. At first I headed into the lagoon but then reconsidered. All that awaited me in there was highish tides and rock walls. seeing as I had limited control and couldn't slow down.... there was a good chance I was going to end the project smashed up on one of those walls if I took that option. I turned for the tiny beach at the Yacht club. The wind was still gusting to 25 knots so the Lagoon was rough... especially as the tide was flooding against the wind. I turned the boat up and down but even with a flooded rear cockpit, it refused to slow down. She was off... and I couldn't see a damned thing. The spray was just heaving in...but at least the cockpit drain was working. I struggled to see the Yacht club and knew that if I missed the tiny beach behind the back of a jetty that I was in very bad shape. Kilometers of industrial docks, container ships, jetty's and marina walls in a one tack speed sailing boat with a jammed throttle. I really had to make the beach. The spray was heavy and relentless. I could roughly make out the outline of the jetty as I flew across the rough water just praying that the boat would hold together. It was all happening a bit quickly. The mainsheet was fully off but the wing was sheeting itself on. I struggled to make out how far away the Yacht club was. I burst around the corner of the lagoon at 20 + odd knots. The spray relented for a second as the jetty whizzed by. I kicked it hard right into the tiny bay... and I mean tiny. It was into the wind but the wing just continued to sheet on adjusting to the new angle and we actually accelerated. The loggers record me parking my 30' wide speed sailing boat on the front beach of the Walvis Bay Yacht Club at 26 knots!!! I dug a ditch up that beach and came to a stop with the nose high and dry sitting on its foil. My heart was pounding... what a bloody wild ride... but I had somehow threaded a needle. Stunned people came out of the Yacht club thinking I had meant it and that I had broken the record. I was happy that I had made it... but the boat was still not tamed. What a shitfight. The support RIB finally caught up with me and we put together a de-rigging team with members of our team and mates from the bar.

Now unbelievably... after all this... the only damage is to the bottom of the main foil. We have pulled all the main components out and put them back together. Tonight we will trowel on some hard epoxy resin and tomorrow we will sand it back into shape.

It was wild... totally wild. As if two runs... where we hit over 50 knots and did new personal best's weren't enough ( I'm pretty sure we have now put the windsurfers record of 49.09 behind us... but will wait to see what the TRIMBLE data comes back with)

I told you this project was going to push us to the end.

Tonight we work late... for tomorrow it is forecast to blow again and I want in.

Some days it just all kicks off.

The boat itself behaved brilliantly today. I don't know what caused the forward wing bridle failure... I'll look in the morning.

Cheers, Paul.

...like a freight train. This boat can beat the existing record. Yesterday she made that perfectly clear to me and those who watched.

Sitting here the following day... we know we went fast... but we still don't know how fast. We normally sail with three independant GPS systems onboard.

1/  One simple, standard hand-held GPS I strap to my arm which gives an immediate indication of peak speeds and 500 meter averages. It is not accurate enough for official timing but puts us in the ballpark. For some reason that was not put in my kit bag and we didn't know until it was too late.

2/ The mighty Trimble 5700 unit which is used for the official record. It records points every 1/10th of a second and can get down to millimeter accuracy. It has no displays so we have to post process that data once we have returned. The WSSRC (world speed sailing record council) official who watches our runs makes sure that he is present when it is loaded and unloaded to make sure that the data we present is indeed off the boat we are running... and not a jetski! We are struggling to process that data and have been for some time. The data is there... but we can't get it to make sense. We will send it to Trimble today.

3/The pi/Cosworth black box data logger. This brilliant little piece of kit also has a high rate GPS... but also needs to be post processed. It is much easier to process than the TRIMBLE... but not as accurate.

So yesterday whilst waiting for the wind to build to record breaking levels... I decided to do a shakedown run to keep everyone sharp including myself. It was at this point that we realised we didn't have the small gps. Nevermind. Not critical. The run went brilliantly, the boat was rock solid with great control. The nose was riding sweet even with the extra 20 kg of water ballast in it. The pod was skipping but not flying as were only doing low-mid 40's.

As we headed back up the course it was obvious that the wind was kicking in. The team at the timing hut radio'd in confirmation that the wind was topping 25 knots in the gusts.

It was on.

The French film crew was getting excited and the day had turned. It was also getting late. The grey overcast that normally hangs offshore blew in and it all began to get dark. We quickly put VESTAS Sailrocket in full record trim with all fairings and stripped rigging.

I started the run at near on 7pm. VESTAS Sailrocket leapt of her tether and tried to plane down-wind with a fully stalled wing. There were still lulls of 20-21 knots... but this was good.

I noted that the mainsheet cleat was jamming open for some reason. This was surprising as we all check, check and double check this system. I considered the options and had to act quick as we were already getting out. The marker buoys were getting hard to see and the chop was up due to the windstrength. As soon as I gave the wing a sniff of attached flow... the rocket launched. the spray was heavy and I sailed with the wing out to allow me to close on the shore and get out of the chop at a mild speed i.e. 30-35 knots. The wing flap was set to be sheeted in... which meant that if the mainsheet slipped in a jammed cleat that the wing would back-wind and come crashing down. I had to hold the mainsheet to be safe... which meant I had to sheet the flap with the other hand... which meant I had to steer with my feet all the way. I lined up the course but struggled to line up the two marks. It was flat enough but the sheeting had distracted me for a few seconds. We were now high in the 40's and I only got the flap in as we flew past the timing hut. They had 21 knots at the timing hut as we went by. the wind was being relayed over the VHF. I knew it was fast. I also knew that I wasn't in as close as I should be. I let the boat have its head and just rode the next big gust to the end before dumping the flap and abandoning the run. It was less than ideal... but the boat itself behaved brilliantly. Rock-solid, pod flying and locked in.

Damn... I knew it was fast... but too rough.

We had no idea how quick it was. It was a terrible thought to think that it could be a world record for all we knew... but we wouldn't know. So we couldn't get excited. It was possible that the magic moment you dreamt of for so many years could be blurred by slight oversights. I personally thought that it was a new personal best... but that's probably all.

When we got back to the container in the dark we quickly got the TRIMBLE and PI/COSWORTH boxes out. Helena was first to come out with data off the PI Black box. It measured a peak of only 49.17 but a 500 meter average of 48.27 knots. The trouble was that the peaks had all 'flat-lined'. The unit probably struggled with all the water washing over the decks. It looks like the real peaks will be in the 50's which will drag the average up. That's how it looks.

So it was new personal best... which I guess makes it a new 'B' class world record. But we are after bigger game. Much bigger game.

Alex is still crunching away on the TRIMBLE data beside me now. when I look at the video and how the run went... I can easily see where we will get another three knots from. The boat is in brilliant form and yesterday was nothing but confidence building. It could have been a record day... but I'm not going to deal in 'if's' here. We have a few days left with a couple of good forecasts. We will be sailing at low tide which is a bit of a pain.

Today it is forecast to blow 30. Yesterday reminded me of Malcom's belief that we don't need super strong winds... a steady 23.5 will do it. The average yesterday during the run was only 22.4!!! Being fully sheeted in and copping a 26-7 knot gust will send us ballistic again. The boat has no means to shed the power other than acceleration... and that power will give speeds where the foils will fail us. So we must be firm in our decision making... not gung-ho suicidal! It's a hard balance when standing waste deep in water at the top of a remote beach with officials, team members, film crews... and most importantly... all your dreams and aspirations... waiting at the other end.

We continue to refine the boat as every day we find new little issues. She's no teenager anymore. Even the support RIB is throwing us curve balls. yesterday the steering cable snapped and we had to quickly fit a makeshift tiller onto it.

So today... looks goooood. And I feel goooood about it.

I know we have the fastest sailing boat in the world... we just have to keep all the plates spinning to make it official.

One of these days.

Cheers, Paul.