Sailrocket at Speed Week: 30 Knots!

Photos by Ingrid Abery

Well, that's that box ticked... Weymouth Speed Week has come and gone and what a fantastic week it was for us and for speed sailing in general.

The team at Sailrocket take their hats off to the Amateur Yacht Research Society (AYRS) and Bob Downhill for running a very special event very well. To give you an idea of what they get up to, on one day they timed well over 800 runs including the wind strength at the start and finish of each run on the fast inshore course. The timers returned at the end of the day with their lunch packs untouched as they simply didn't have time to eat. One sailboarder logged 180 km. distance sailed on his GPS on the speed sailing course alone. Whilst the sailboarding and kite boarding fraternity turn up in droves it is alarming that no other classes turn up at all despite the perfect blast reach conditions that occurred this year. It's like the dinghy sailing world in this country is asleep to the fun, skill and thrills that speed sailing involves preferring to live in a world of windward/leeward courses and unsubstantiated speed claims. What about a skiff versus cat challenge? On days not ideal for Sailrocket I yearned for a simple Hobie 16 to send down the course. Those who weren't here this week missed out on a good old fashioned blast. The timing is still done and the wind still blows. In that respect the event is as good as ever. With so many skiff and fast cat classes emerging you can't tell me that speed is not the attraction. So where is the imagination?

Here are a few of the highlights from our perspective:

-Sailrocket becomes a true 30 knot sailing boat hitting first 30.3 and then 31.0 knots in two wobbly runs down the inshore course. The 4th bottle of champers is history.

-Bjorn Dunkerbeck breaks Crossbow II's old 36 knot Portland Harbour record by recording a run of 36.18 knots.

-Being on the same course at the same time with Richard Jenkins on Windjet as we both strive to come to grips with our craft in pursuit of the same goal.

-Doing 15 or so odd runs over three days in conditions from 35 knot squalls to 5 knots with only one very minor breakage which was fixed in minutes. We showcased a great boat and great team-work banging off consecutive runs only 20 minutes apart. Not bad for a 'One tack wonder'.

-Meeting the characters and their concepts that make this event so unique.
-Waking up to a view overlooking the course each morning in the fantastic house on the shore offered to the Sailrocket team by Berkeley Marine.

-Watching one competitor on an inflatable hydrofoil boat go into a fast gybe and get thrown off the back of the boat by the sheer pace of the turn further than I have seen someone thrown before.

Photos by Ingrid Abery

We pushed of from the ramp alongside the RYA RIB (kindly loaned) as the gusts rocketed through. The boom stuck in the water and the leeway held the sail pinned so that when the wind got under it the whole boat reared up as if it was going to blow over backwards. We regained control and then considered what to do ... whether to go for it or not. Up the course an 18' skiff was in survival mode trying to get back to the ramp. Part of me said, 'Stuff it, this isn't a game for the faint hearted' whilst the other half born from experience said " Early days, gusty unpredictable conditions not suitable for this boat... live to fight another day". I think that the team breathed a sigh when I chose the latter and we returned to the shore. We had to enlist people to help hold the boat down whilst we de-rigged. The decision was vindicated by the vicious little squall lines sweeping across the bay. It was the right choice. Windjet managed to get on the course but had a very difficult run dodging the sailboarders who were unaware of his crafts requirements. At one time his whole boat leapt into the air as Richard struggled with the kites that power this amazing craft. Nonetheless Windjet managed 19.5 knots over the course with a best speed of 29 knots in a burst. He scored the first tankard for the fastest boat of the day. Sailrocket would bag the next three.

The next day had the wind much further to the west and we were first onto the course expecting the wind to drop off. In medium strength winds approaching 17 knots we hit some pretty good top speeds in the flat seas. The aft planing surface looked and felt much better than anything before and Sailrocket looked her best yet. We hit the start gate at speed and for once I had great visibility barely noticing any spray.

The wind was well aft and in four consecutive runs we hit a big hole in the middle of the course and literally parked up. I was surprised that we had actually managed to record an 18.something knot average on the first run which wasn't bad considering. The wind crapped out and we headed in delighted with the new back surface. WINDJET missed the early breeze.

Photos by Ingrid Abery

The third day wasn't so flash and left me feeling a little disheartened. We fought the course and conditions all day. The wind was SSW-SW and the course was set up for a port tack. We were allowed to run it on a Starboard tack but found it difficult to get up into the flat water at the start so were left dealing with chop and 20 knot plus winds well forward of the beam. We managed some 20 knot runs with top speeds approaching 28 knots but the boat just wouldn't light up. My old adversary ... blinding spray ... was back and I had some very hairy runs weaving the wrong way down a speed sailing course against an onslaught of hell-bent sail/kite boarders. Bloody dangerous and bloody scary.

Bad windshield experience. It's supposed to deflect the spray... not concentrate it. We removed it completely the following day.

Photos by Ingrid Abery

In the end we conceded to the conditions and headed home frustrated by the lack of performance. Later we reflected on the nature of our boat and the fact that it needs very special situations in which to shine. The Australian record holders wouldn't have dreamt of putting their craft out in that stuff. We made some modifications to the mainsheet system to make it easier to use blind and readied for the next day.

We are currently installing an awesome GPS tracking system which the team at Trimble are working on. The first day showed the worst position inaccuracy to be only 12mm. It's a fantastic piece of kit (or many pieces of kit) that will eventually be used to record SailrocketS ultimate runs. I will go into it more in a separate piece once it is up and running but the day has finally come where Sailrocket comes back from sailing.... and gets plugged into a computer.

The fact is that we are desperate for information off and on the boat. Trimble are very enthusiastic and welcome partners.

Day four of the event looked ideal for us as the wind moved further to the west and the course was set up on Starboard. I was determined to get in close to the flatter water and try and get some serious speed out of Sailrocket. Rough water is the one consistent things that has hampered us through out and it is obvious that we need to get in close... very close in order to get the ultimate glassy conditions. We were hampered by a late start and a number of annoying little technical hitches like a stripped thread which left the mast support strut dragging out the back and a need to change support RIB's.

Nonetheless we recorded our first 30 knot top speed. I had been worried that we were suffering from a wave frequency problem where at a certain speed the aft planing surface was riding in the trough created by the forward planing surface and that this was creating a secondary speed hump around 26-28 knots. This may still be the case but at least we proved we could break through it and put that poor '30 knot bottle' of Sean Frohlichs champagne out of its misery. It's been chilled and heated and chilled again, sometimes even frozen by mistake, too many times in anticipation.

Once back out on the water with another RIB we lined up for more runs. I was trying some different techniques such as over sheeting the main at the start so as not to have to worry about sheeting on down the course but this proved to cause too much of an initial bear away. I was still struggling with the mainsheet system and the change over from coarse to fine tune as the loads increased. It's really no 'biggy', just a technique thing that needs to be sorted out. There are lots of shots of the boat going down the course with the main luffing and there are many reasons for this. I'll leave it at this for now, We know, we know and we are well onto it. During one of the runs the steering just went off and the boat swung off the course. I was sure we had a breakage or at best a steering slippage. Despite being closer to the shore than normal I still opted for a round-up to stop as I didn't want to bear away at 30 knots into a situation with oncoming traffic and no steering. We couldn't find anything wrong and decided to trim the rudder further under the boat so as to make it more balanced and continue sailing with less load on the helm. You gotta' love that instant adjustability. We were losing the tide but decided to push on. The course was closed as a 30-35 knot squall ripped across the course with buckets of rain. All the sail/kite boarders sat onshore and watched bemused as we struggled to hold Sailrocket just in front of the Kite academy. I'm sure they thought they were about to see another magic Weymouth Speed week moment. We managed to keep her under control until the squall passed leaving little to no wind for a while.

As we were sitting there ready we were first off when the breeze came in and this was a pretty alarming run. The water was good and I was well lined up on the course. There was still alot of spray and visibility was limited. The boat proceeded to go into a big yawing motion which felt like the sailing equivalent of a big ' fish-tail' . I was fighting to keep it simply pointed down the course as the helm swung from heaps of weather to heaps of lee helm. It was if I was just playing catch up with the rudder as to where the boat really wanted to go as if someone was steering with the back wheels whilst I was steering with the front. There was a lot of steering input going in and therefore I had no intention of going in real close until I was comfortable. You have to remember that on this boat I only have two options in order to get out of trouble. One is to sheet in hard to bring on lee-helm which makes the craft bear away until I get enough room to either round-up or I keep bearing away until I lose the apparent wind and slow down. It's going to be a pretty hairy option in the speeds to come.

The other option is to dump the mainsheet which brings on a lot of weather helm, overpowers the steering and causes the boat to round up and stop. This will not be an option when we get in real close to the shore. We think that the boat is yawing around due to its overall layout. With the rig so far off to one side, the centre of effort of the sail plan can move fore and aft of the centre board quite a lot with inputs from sheeting angle, boat to wind angle, apparent wind angle and gusts. The latter could perhaps have upset what is usually a much smoother transition for one form of helm to the other. We will play with this and Malcolm will do some numbers. I did a big bear away at the end of the course and bounced over the chop further of the shore at a deep angle. I think this is when we got the 31 but will wait to see the Trimble data.

Photos by Ingrid Abery

By now the tide was so low that Sailrocket was effectively sitting on the bottom at rest and was being beach launched. We did one more run which wasn't very smooth at the start and then headed in. Although we didn't get in the glamour run we felt much better about the overall performance and had learnt some new tricks. She felt like she had loads more to give and we feel we now know where to begin looking. Sailrocket will be foot- steered in the very near future. I need my hands to control the sheets which are nearly more important than the rudder for steerage. Our best run for the day was 25.7 over the course but I can honestly say that I believe we could have won the day and the event given another days practice in these conditions. Speed sailing is based on getting raw numbers and there is no place for could've, should've, would've. Just the numbers. So there we are at 25.7.

Now that it is over and we put the project in perspective, here's some interesting facts

-12 sailing days in total
-37 runs logged in total
-Assuming average of 2 minutes total run time (generous), less than 90 minutes sailing in total
-gear breakage's resulting in damage to equipment, 0.

Not bad really.

We have decided that Weymouth is a much better Port tack option and have now reconfigured the boat to go in this direction. A big thanks must go to Nick Barlow at Design Craft who has supported us throughout and recently supplied a new resin infused carbon board for the Port tack.

For the program it is business as usual as we continue the development and learning that comes with it. We have many cards still to play but must keep it real and only play one at a time. We are feeling our way into new territory and the speed is climbing steadily. The bank has however zeroed out and we must now park the boat for a while and go of once more on the eternal quest of searching for money with which to support our habit.

I wonder if the judge would understand if I was picked up on the side of the road holding a sign reading 'WILL WORK FOR SPEED'?

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