SailRocket back in action on Walvis Bay Speed Strip
by Paul Larsen 27 Mar 2007 16:38 BST
SailRocket sets up in Namibia © SailRocket
The Sailrocket team have returned to the Walvis Bay speed strip for Round 2. They spent the last two weeks repairing the boat after a big wipeout on their first outing.
"The first run was pretty intense. It was an amazing feeling to point our incredible craft down that gorgeous stretch of immaculate water for the first time. There was only 16.5 knots of wind but when she hooked into it she accelerated like never before and quickly beat her previous top speed by hitting 33 knots. I lost steerage and Sailrocket slewed towards the beach where I made a split second decision to bail out of the run. I eased the wing sail a fraction and then it was over in a split second. The wing came crashing down and chopped across the beam. The wing had backwinded slightly and generated a huge compressive load which caused a secondary component to fail. These solid wings don't just feather and flap like a soft sail. The wing slammed into the water hard. There was alot of damage. I couldn't believe it was all over so quick. We had only progressed 250 meters down the course and the rig had done the unmentionable.
We got it all back to the shore and then ferried it back to our base. We all felt pretty tired that night.
In the cold light of the following day I cut away all the damage and began to formulate a plan. I was amazed that the wing had survived at all. It vindicates our design decisions to build with a central spar rather than use a fragile 'egg-shell' approach.
It could all be fixed and I accepted that there will probably be alot more of this sort of action along the way. If you step into the ring you have to expect to cop a few in the face from time to time!
Two weeks later we are back in action and as pretty as ever. We went sailing again yesterday in light winds of 14 knots or less as we try and get to grips with the handling. Sailrocket hit 28.8 knots in the fading light and could have done more but top-speed was not our objective. We need to work up to that. We checked out some handling issues and got back in one piece.
The boat is becoming increasingly intimidating as it starts to reveal its potential. I know if I send it down this course in 20 knots of wind that it will go ballistic. I just need to make sure that I can control it. Malcolm (sailrockets designer) is over here at the moment and we are working through a number of sailing profiles. We need to make the boat perform in a safe manner at very high speeds where even a slight turn to windward would spell disaster. The boat needs to have lee helm. Sheeting out to slow down at speed is not an option as it makes the boat round-up. I have to do a big bear away at high speed until the wing stalls.
It's a scary thought.
We have designed 3 high speed drogues which will serve a double purpose of slowing us down rapidly and turning us to leeward. It is not an easy thing to design for rapid deployment and effective grab at high speed. I hope that we don't need it.
Today is looking glamorous again and the boat is sitting next to me fully rigged and ready. This is getting pretty intense. If I can effectively turn the boat away when I want then that is not great... but if it can turn up into the shore when it wants then we are screwed and the boat will turn into a black piece of tumble weed.
I am confident that with a bit more practice and tweaking that we can begin to see the sort of 'locked-in' stability that the model demonstrated time and time again.
For now this is what we are here for, to develop the boat and understand what we have created. Ultimately we want a craft which is incredibly powerful AND stable. That is the craft that will be king.
Numbers are great but now my backside is starting to translate them into reality and it is pretty exciting to say the least.
Meanwhile Walvis Bay continues to impress us with its amazing conditions. I went for a run up the course on a sailboard the other evening. I was sailing directly into the setting sun a meter or so off the shore. In the golden glow it felt like I was sailing on another planet. The wind was strong but the water was so flat it was like skating. Surreal.
Videos and pictures of all the thrills and spills will be forthcoming on the www.sailrocket.com website.