Vestas Sailrocket

Thu, 18 Feb 10

Paul Larsen and Malcolm Barnsley with Vestas Sailrocket 1

This summer, the huge ‘Union Jack’ doors of the Columbine shed in East Cowes will part and true to the shed's origins, one more and perhaps final, amazing flying boat will emerge. The UK based team behind the VESTAS SAILROCKET project are building a new boat to finish the job of setting the outright world speed sailing record. The new craft will be an evolution of the innovative concept upon which their original craft was based.

The new boat is being built in the VESTAS R&D facilities at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. It will incorporate many features to make it more versatile and practical to sail at world record speeds in a wider range of winds and sea states. The team will launch the new boat in East Cowes in time for the British summer and hope to carry out testing in the UK over the following months. If initial trials go well, the team will endeavour to bring the world record back to UK waters.

Pilot/project leader, Paul Larsen- “This represents a fantastic opportunity to develop a real breakthrough concept. Our first interpretation of it did a brilliant job of demonstrating the potential. I’m very proud of what we have achieved but also very aware that we haven’t finished the job. I personally can’t live with that. The first boat did what it was supposed to do... but by the time it did, the record had moved on. As it stands we still need to go two knots faster to break the current world record. I still believe our first boat could break that record but I also know she is near her limits. As a team we are now well positioned to design and build a much better, safer and above all faster boat which is more suitable for the challenges to come.

“The fact is that in the world of outright speed sailing, there is nothing of real interest to us below 50 knots. 50 knots has to be a minimum cruise speed for our next boat and it must be able to do it in a wide range of wind and sea states. Some of the problem areas require us to come up with new solutions as we can’t simply force conventional thinking onto an unconventional craft. We have put a lot more effort into making the boat stable in unusual situations. Our first version was a good boat but a lousy aeroplane. The next boat will be stable in both environments. No matter what we come up with... we will be pushing it right to the limit... and be able to bring a passenger along for the ride!

“It’s an ideal situation to be working so closely with VESTAS right in the heart of their R&D facilities. We use the same tools and speak the same language. The only difference is that when we take our design to the limit, I have to strap myself into it!”

Designer, Malcolm Barnsley- “Many valuable lessons have been learned. It’s ideal to be going straight in with a follow up boat while these are fresh in our minds. So many of the unknowns are now known and we have a far greater understanding of the concept and the novel issues surrounding it. Design-wise this provides a strong foundation which gives us the opportunity to deal with the big issues right from the start. Nonetheless we will maintain a highly modular and adjustable boat to best deal with any new issues that might arise.

“There will always be problems when exploring the limits, but we are confident these will be relatively minor in comparison to what we have had to deal with in the past. With the resources, knowledge and skill available, the development period to get above the current record will be very short indeed.”

President of Vestas Technology R&D, Finn Strom Madsen- “It has been a great ride so far. We are both trying to efficiently and practically extract as much energy from the wind as we can. Similarly, we share a passion to be the best in the world at what we do. We are looking forward to the new boat and have great faith that it will set the outright world speed sailing record.”

VESTAS SAILROCKET 1 will be on public display in all her battle scarred glory at the upcoming RYA VOLVO Dinghy Show, Alexandra Palace, March 6-7th .

Achievements to date– Emerged in 2008 as fastest sailing ‘boat’ in the world, Current B class world record holder, Best 500 meter average 49.38 knots, Best peak speed 52.78 knots (60.75mph).

The current Outright world record sits at 51.36 knots (59.1 mph) and is held by the French ‘Hydroptere’ project.

The outright world speed sailing record is set by taking the average speed of the craft between two points set 500 meters apart. All records are ratified by the sports governing body, the WSSRC (World Speed Sailing Record Council).

Bernard Smith 1910-2010

Wed, 17 Feb 10

Bernard Smith : Sailing's True Rocket Scientist

It is with much regret that we inform you of the passing of Bernard Smith on February the 12th; a brilliant mind in many fields not least of which was sailing. Born in New York’s Lower East side in 1910 from a long line of blacksmiths, Bernard went on to be one of the founders of American rocket science and later to become director of the Naval Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren, Virginia.

Amongst all this, Bernard’s seminal book, “The 40-knot sailboat” was published in 1963. It was a simple and easy to read book that outlined Bernard’s farsighted concepts for tackling the issues of high speed sailing. Most of Bernard’s radical concepts confronted the big issues of sailboat stability head on and were free of the shackles of convention. His book and the craft within (which he described as ‘aero-hydrofoils’) inspired many designers aiming to unlock their secrets and the potential for power and stability that they promised over conventional craft.

It wasn’t until the 27th of November, 2007 that the Vestas Sailrocket team finally broke through 40 knots in a craft based on Smith’s ideas. They were delighted to contact Bernard and tell him at the ripe old age of 97 that his ideas worked. A year later they called him to tell him that his 40 knot concept was in fact a 50 knot concept and at that stage the fastest sailing ‘boat’ in the world. Bernard remained sharp as a tack until his passing in Boca Raton, Florida last week.

The Vestas Sailrocket team continue to develop his concepts and believe that one day, he will be broadly acknowledged in the sailing world for the true visionary genius that he was and the originator of a whole new era in high speed sailing.

Bernard is succeeded by his wife May and daughter Susan Ida Smith.

See Bernard's concept in action: a video of Vestas Sailrocket's fastest run.

VESTAS SailRocket returns to the ring

Fri, 11 Sep 09

The UK based VESTAS SAILROCKET team are to return to Walvis Bay in Namibia for one more assault on the outright speed sailing record. The 28 day record period will commence on the 2nd of October.

This will be the final record attempt for this wonderful boat. It has endured a long and eventful life to reach its current level of performance and its structure bears the scars of many a hard earned lesson. This is truly a unique and significant craft which has shown the potential of a radical concept for achieving both stability and efficiency in high speed sailing craft. The team, together with the sponsors and supporters have shared a fascinating journey but their ultimate objective, to be the outright fastest in the world, remains. The journey will only end when this objective is reached, one way or the other.

Already, since committing to this final attempt, the bar has been raised by the mighty French Hydroptere. In fact the outright record has been broken 6 or 7 times by 3 (and nearly 4) different craft since Sailrocket was first launched in 2004. VESTAS Sailrocket has already beaten the record as it was when she was launched, but now she needs to go almost exactly 4 knots faster again to achieve the new outright record of 51.38 knots*.

Pilot/ project manager, Paul Larsen- Firstly, Congratulations to the Hydroptere team, we’ve got some work to do... but we wouldn’t be in this game if we didn’t like a challenge. Whilst it has been great to race the other true ‘boats’, it is the outright record we all strive for. This means that ultimately we have to beat the board riders as well. The MI (Macquarie Innovations) boys showed that they were within reach, now thanks to Hydroptere, the boat record IS the outright speed sailing record. Soon it’s going to be our shot to see if we can turn it up some more.

Nothing focuses the mind like competition. The record hasn’t fallen so many times recently by chance. Sometimes the limits are as much psychological as they are physical. When the level you need to attain gets so high that your current best isn’t enough then your options become limited and in some respect the job gets easier. You simply have to change your sights and find another gear. In this case it is ‘all or nothing’. We will no longer focus on the mile record as the Walvis Bay course is a little too short to challenge the new benchmark. We will go down there with our eyes firmly on the outright prize. 50 knots is last year’s story... we simply have to go well over that now. I look forward to taking this wonderful boat out to do battle one more time. There’s a final chapter to be written and I’m sure she still has a few knots up her sleeve. It will be one hell of a ‘suck-it and-see’ ride on the ragged edge that’s for sure!

VESTAS Sailrocket Designer, Malcolm Barnsley- Now, in order to achieve our ultimate aim, we need to go almost exactly 4 knots quicker. We have learnt so much since we started. Through constant development we have managed to solve most of the relatively minor issues surrounding a new concept and allowed the real potential to begin to shine through. All of the boat projects have shown that when it all comes together, there are still large performance jumps that can be made at the top end. On paper, the 500m record is definitely within reach but everything has to be just right and if we do make it I doubt it will be by a big margin. Even in a place like Walvis Bay, which provides fantastic conditions on a regular basis, it will take a special day. Let’s hope we get those perfect conditions to make chasing down those four knots as easy as possible!

The team will be on full standby at Walvis Bay Yacht Club throughout the whole record period. Regular updates and live feeds will be streamed from the new website www.vestassailrocket.com throughout the attempt.

*as of writing this, Hydroptere’s records are still subject to WSSRC ratification.

Vestas Sailrocket Launches New Website

Wed, 2 Sep 09

Vestas SailRocket has today launched a new website at www.sailrocket.com. With ever increasing numbers of visitors, we decided to completely update our site with the aim of bringing you - our supporters - a better view into our world.

The new dynamic site will allow the team to upload stories directly from 'Speed Spot' in Walvis Bay, Namibia, posting status updates and pictures straight to the home page. Paul's Blog will of course continue to be a first port of call for many of our supporters, but in addition to this, we'll be writing feature stories to bring new visitors to our site up to speed.

Users previously registered with Vestas Sailrocket website can log into the site with their current username and password. New users sign up here to receive emails alerting you to the latest developments with Vestas Sailrocket.

Look out for more pages about Vestas SailRocket appearing very soon!