New PB... and nautical mile record smashed!

 Just in after the most incredible run. A whole nautical mile dipping well into the 60's on each gust. We peaked near or over 64 knots and beat our previous 500 meter average. I don't think we cracked 60 knots as a 500 meter average though. But anyway... we smashed the nautical mile record. The TRIMBLE file is big but on the small GT31 we averaged over 55.5 knots

 

(Hang on STOP PRESS: Trimble data in now... 55.32 knots for the mile subject to wssrc ratification. That's it).

63.98 knots 1 second peak... so definitely over 64 for a spike in there.

... and just marginally quicker than our previous best 500 meters at 59.38 knots... subject to wssrc stuff!

 

It's not an easy run to do on a course that is only 1.04 nautical miles long. I have to wind the boat up in rough water at the start and launch it out into rough water at full pelt at the end. Bloody interesting sailing in a boat specifically designed for flatter water.

So that was a big tick on our job list. We didn't even think we were going sailing today. Our media job list is huge and we had to drop everything to go sailing. The team is getting slick now and we made the switcharoo to sailing mode pretty effectively.

So it's Sunday and the town is shut. We're alone in the container with one paltry bottle of Pol Roger champagne left. Our local Champagne dealer is enroute.

This boat is wearing us out. We have barely recovered from the first hangover.

Damn that was good ride. I had the time to look around and just enjoy the sensation that that awesome piece of kit delivers. She was on the edge there a few times.

Bloody brilliant. Go Team.

Enjoy all. Cheers, Paul

Comments

The smiles said it all

What an achievement, after so much work and so many years. Awesome.

Awesome

I just saw the video.
Seeing so much joy and so many happy faces was very emosional.

10 years, and you did it!

Awesome

Jacob Bohme
Vestas, Denmark

Congratulations!!!

Paul:

Congrats to you and your whole team! Way to hang in there when the going was tough... Can't wait till you break 100!!!

Gino Morrelli

That is great

Dear Paul and the entire team,

What a performance!... What a show!... What groundbreaking achievement!... It is tremendous. You deserved it.

My congratulations to the whole team and to you in particular.

Walter Hart

Well done

Hello Paul & Helen & Malcom,
I am so happy for you all, that really is a great achievement... you rock!
At least you manage to make it. And this is a full new way for fast sailing that you made possible with this supercavitating foil. Since my thesis with Malcom in Southampton a few years ago we were pretty sure this was the way... but the idea is nothing until fully proven!
Well done again then, and I would be eager to see the profile of the foil!
Can you send it to me?
Well done again, Champaign was long awaited but you deserved it!
Cheers
Guillaume Thiebault

Brilliant - hardwork tenacity professionalism rewarded!

Paul, Helena and Malcolm and the rest of the VSR2 team Im really pleased that such inspiring design , sports professionalism dedication and pure tenacity has been rewarded! Congratulations to the whole team!! Deborah (Get up to Speed!)

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT

Huge Congatulations to Paul Larsen, Malcolm Barnsley and all the Sailrocket Team on this
Amazing 59+ knots achievement.

It's 30 years since Jacob's Ladder II - the modified Tornado catamaran with the stack of Flexifoil kites, sailed by Ian Day and myself, Martin Rayment set a new 'C' class World Sailing Speed Record at 25.03 knots at Weymouth.
It's around 28 years ago my then work colleague Malcolm Barnsley showed us a short video of his model - prototype Sailrocket - sailing at stupendous scale speeds.

What a Story of persistence!

By the way Paul, Ian Day reckons that Jacob's Ladder II still holds the semi-official altitude record for a boat - 30 feet - from when she went flying in a force 10 in 1981, but you must hold the altitude record for a boat helsman as you were still aboard all the way up - and down. And happily lived to tell the tale!

WELL DONE, AMAZING. Looking forward to 60knots +.

Martin Rayment and on behalf of Ian Day

Well Done!

Paul,
Great to see good engineering and perseverance pay off!
Bob Dill

Well-deserved Paul and team

Your perseverance is paying off. I can only start to imagine all the hard work and sacrifices you and your team has put into this, not only with Vestas Sailrocket II, but since the first day you began this journey.

Well done.

Nis Peter Lorentzen

hats off to you and the team

Congratulations on a wonderful achievement. As a kiteboarder I was hoping my boys would hold the prize for a while, but credit where it's due. The new record is truly a thing of beauty. Great work by you and the team.
Eric Brandhorst,
Carlisle, MA USA

World Record

Well done Paul and the team. An amazing achievement. All down to fantastic faith in the dream.
Sarah and David Rollinson

Congratulations !!!

Your success shows the results of having a beautiful dream, thoughtful engineering, learning from testing and persistence.

I'm hoisting one for you all.

Cheers,
David Dilworth

12 November 2012 WSSRC Ratification

I have noted in today's WSSR Newsletter No. 216 the WSSRC ratification for the Class B speed record on 12 Nov 12 of 54.08K going to Sailrocket.

Especially fun about the newsletter is the last comment: "A further claim for a speed record in excess of the above is currently being assessed."

Cheers, Tim (Vermont)

Well done Paul, Helena and Team

Incredible news (on my birthday).
Your terrier like perseverance has paid.
Amazing!!!!!
Warm regards, Digby

Huge pat on the back for Team Sailrocket.

Amazing news to come into work to, chuffed to bits for you all.

And you did it without the show boating loop the loops like the good old days of VSR1.........

Going to treat myself to one of them "The Sailrocket" cocktails (might substitute rum for JD though).

Tom (Cosworth)

Congrats

Been following you the years! At last a well deserved triumph! Amazing effort all round. Congratulations!!!

And the Quiet Achievements

Beneath the dazzle of the speed your team has done an incredible job of boat handling and conservation. No serious accidents handling those frail, wind prone structures in strong winds, day after day.

Sailrocket's design was always going to win one day. You could so easily have lost so much with a simple miss hap.

Lets see 60 knots and when you calm down we need to start work on practical yachts based on sailrocket principles.

Patrick Irwin
Port Melbourne

Wired!

Paul - It seems that you are now wired right into the sweet-spot. Heaping more congratulations onto an already large mountain of acolades seems lame. The truth is I am without words and truly in awe. Happy for you and the team, and barely grasping the speed you are now achieving.

With the two greatest prizes safely tucked under your belt (pending WSSRC ratification), you're now in that most enviable position where you get to push the envelope of your supurb craft.

The big question I know everybody itching to know: How fast will Sailrocket go? What will happen at the limits? I'm sure all attention must already be tuned to the strong forecast coming up this week.

The folks down in Luderitz must be sad to see the prize soaring away out of their grasp. I say, push it as far as your dare.

All the best in speed and safety.

Congratulations again, from (landlocked) Vermont!

Tim

I hope you're going to give

I hope you're going to give Helena and the rest of the team a go...but again, congratulations!
I saw Colin Palmer (who worked with Malcolm on an early concept version of the "40 knot Smith" configuration, called Alien, in the arly 1980s) at Windcluster's 20th aniversary yesterday, so this has been a very special weekend. You've given fresh hope to many that whatever your ambition, with dedication and hard work anything is possible.
Thanks for the ride,
Cheers,
Joddy.

The hits just keep on coming.

It's amazing to have so much access as a spectator on the other side of the world. I am telling everyone I know about your incredible results. You'd be surprised how many people are interested. Of course most of them are sailors too. :-)

Congratulations one more time (running out of adjectives).

Well done team sailrocket

I have been reading your blog since the start of VSR1. I'm so please you have finally got it all working as the model said it should! Keep going and set the bar over 60 kts.
Fergus

Way to go mate. Stunning

Way to go mate. Stunning performance!!! Well done to you and the whole Team. Peter M of TP days

Keep on truck in'

You and the rest of the team deserve these successes. I can't believe how long it has been since the VS-1 launch into orbit. Carry on and on, force that bar way beyond reach...

Show Off

Now you're just showing off!!!

Wooshhhh !

Augurs Well !

Records Rocket

Deeply impressive numbers. VSR2 lives up to her colour scheme!

Enjoy the Pol Roger tonight!

Congrats from Brazil

Keep going! Keep going!
Parabéns!
Hernán, from Brazil

New PB?

Pretty sweet when a New PB also happens to be a New WR!

Even though the nautical mile record almost seems like an afterthought to the 500m, you've added 5kts to Hydroptère's previous record and this is a huge achievement in its own right.

So what next? Looking down the WSSRC list of records, there's 500m, followed by nautical mile, followed by 24 hour distance. I'd take the bottle of Pol Roger with you in the cockpit for that one!

Congratulations to everyone!

Dan

Again Congratulation to you all :-)

More impressive news :-)
2 world records in a few days, and even the one improved (but to what level ?)
I wish you guys great fun down there :-)

You Rock!

Fantastic Paul. Sorry to hear you had to blow off the media stuff to go sailing. That must have been a very exciting minute. Absolutely awesome work!

And thanks for posting the 500m video.

Toast of the town

Go Paul and All the team in Walvis Bay! You bring us to our knees with all the toasting we had to do this week. But we suffer the hangover gladly.. Wished we could be there. So so happy. Heike & All at Aerotrope

Keep smashing this records

Keep smashing this records team.

Do you have time to do it to the outright record again?

Cheers from Switzerland!

Wow

That is BLAZING!! The only downside is the crushed hopes of the kite crowd... If it was just marginal they might have a shot, but you've really raised the bar!\

Steve Hammer

!! Totally DIALED IN !!

Paul - TWO NEW WORLD RECORDS TODAY - SPEECHLESS! I don't even know what to say!

A fresh round of congratulations to all. Incredible surprise move today in winds I didn't think would be adequate. Now that the two hugest scalps are in the bag, I've peeked ahead at the wind forecast - Wednesday and big blow coming for next weekend...are you still game for more?

Can't wait to read/watch the details of latest run. I'm incredibly happy for you and the team. Thanks for taking us along on your adventure.

Safety and Godpseed as you push on.

Well done, so glad your not

Well done, so glad your not done, I hope you get a 60 average !
Elliott lerman

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