THE BOAT: BUILD & CONSTRUCTION
Vestas SailRocket, like most projects started as a twinkle in a designer’s eye and has now materialized into a full sized craft hurtling down a course in search of a world record and a place in history. I personally used to wonder how people could create amazing projects out of nothing. Where did they get the money, time and support to go forth? Many people no doubt wonder the same thoughts about SailRocket. The fact is that people who are passionate about our sport like the area in which we are working and want to get involved. Outright speed is always exciting. It is pure and easy for anyone to understand. It was our job to create the speed sailing ‘bus’ that people would want to get on. Malcolm has dabbled in speed sailing craft of one form or another for over 25 years and with Vestas SailRocket he was determined to get it right. I was working with the Team Philips project in Devon when Malcolm sent a video of the 1:5th scale model sailing trials to Pete Goss in the hope of getting support. I knew of the concept upon which Vestas SailRocket was based and it was obvious that Malcolm’s interpretation worked. I later met up with Malcolm and over pasta and a couple of bottles of ‘red’ my mind was made up that this project was worth doing. We hit the London Boat show with a folder full of dreams hoping, like everyone, to secure a financial backer who would pave the way for us to turn the dream into reality. That backer never came but instead a host of companies offered product support for when we were ready to accept. Looking back, some of their offers and eventual support was much more useful than cash alone. First into the fray was the wind turbine company that Malcolm works for NEG-Micon Rotors which is now Vestas. They gave us a place to build Vestas SailRocket in Woolston on the Itchen River as well as all the consumables necessary for the build. At first I didn’t realize just how much support this was. Next came SP Systems who supplied not only all the carbon Fiber and resin, but also a wealth of structural design input. When no financial support came we dug into our own pockets and bought the first basic tooling for building the moulds… then we built the moulds…then we put some carbon in them…and a year or so later we emerged from the shed covered in dust with a gleaming and complete speed sailing machine. Every time we needed something for the project to progress we would get on the phone and ask companies for support. Vestas SailRocket is not a big boat so most of the time the amounts were relatively small whilst the prospect of being involved with a craft aiming to go faster than any other in history was just too good to miss. It is genuinely exciting. So rarely were we disappointed and most of the time we were able to get the best product we were after. Companies like Aerocell provided all the Honeycomb core material, Harken supplied all the blocks and cleats, Compotech supplied the spars and the build just went on, step by step. Help came in the form of skilled labour as well from America’s cup designers and Doctors of hydrodynamics to first year university students and labourers. Way too many people to mention here. I estimate that we built the boat for 1/10th of the cost it would have been just to pay for it up front, and there have been no compromises. If you look along the list of sponsors on the side of Vestas SailRocket you will see companies that supply everything from Sails to paint, Accommodation to buoys. The amount of support we have received is overwhelming. It has taken a huge amount of our own time and effort. We still have the support of all these companies and will need it as we begin to approach the stage of the project that we have all been waiting for, THE FAST PART. So how did we do it?
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