Three Down and Three to Go

The following is a report from Sailrocket supremo Paul Larsen on the first days of testing their amazing craft....

It works, it bloody well works!

After the first three days of 'on-water' trials Sailrocket has performed extremely well and three of the six bottles of Sean Frohlichs champagne have been cracked, the first sail bottle on day one, the 10 knot bottle on day two and yesterday we cracked the 20 knot bottle.

Richard Pemberton (foil designer) studies the form from the support RIB. Alot of spray action!!!

Day 1

Team - Paul Larsen, Malcolm Barnsley, Helena Darvelid, Mike Gettinger, Rob Donnell

On the first day we just got the hang of manouevering the boat with a single RIB (kindly loaned by the Weymouth/Portland Sailing Academy) and this was not an easy feat as the boat is quite ungainly at low speeds and does things one would not expect. If the boat is held just a fraction past head to wind then it goes into an unstoppable tack scenario which continues full circle into an unstoppable gybe scenario. As there is no structure behind the mast, when the rig is laid flat there is nothing to hold the boom down with so it blows over the front and at one stage we lost the whole rig over the front and then ran into it shoving the pointy nose of Sailrocket through the head of the sail and snapping it off. The boat looked like a dropped kebab! There was nothing we could do but sit and watch the scenario unfold. Unbelievably... nothing was broken as the pointy bit is just a false bow. So we put it all back together, changed a few settings and went out again and just did some tow tests. There was one brief sail in the lightish winds but it was only for a few hundred meters. The outboard pod was too 'nose-down' so we went ashore and pitched it up. On the second outing it looked much better.

The word for the day was "educational". Technically it was Sailrocket's first sail and that night we partied in to the wee hours in the container with a bunch of 'Mothies' (from the Moth Europeans) who circled into the light and landed on the well stocked fridge!

Day 2

Team - Paul Larsen, Malcolm Barnsley, Helena Darvelid, Mike gettinger, Andy Bellamy, Richard Pemberton. (Malc and 'Danger' had to leave before sailing)

A lovely day beckoned with a slightly stronger breeze. We knew that we had to sort out the geometry of the rig for towing, raising and lowering as this is 90% of the operation. The sailing is the easy bit. We put the boat in the water and took it out to the end of the pontoon and just hung it from three lines, aft, midships and forward to see how the boat wants to sit.

Getting used to holding the boat stable. We only lower the rig this much when towing. The Seaflex orange bouy is there as a safety. For a moment we all stop and have a look at where we are and how far we have come as a team. One day it will all be over. These are the good days.

The line in the middle worked best so we now knew that we could come alongside in the RIB and hook a sigle line on here and then just sit there whilst the rig was raised or lowered by the pilot in the cockpit. Progress. We also found that if we only lowered the rig 75% of the way that we could control it much more and that the mainsheet began to become effective thus stopping the rig from blowing over when the wind was from behind. We could now motor around in circles in stronger winds in complete control without breaking anything. Big Progress as there are alot of moored boats up one end of the speed sailing course. So knowing this we went out and went for another sail. We stayed out in the deeper, hence choppier, water and once more we let her go. Sailrocket was very responsive to the helm like any light boat should be and I could sail her upwind and downwind with ease. With a bit of a gust she was off but there was an alarming amount of spray coming off the front planing surface. The outboard end was lifting as we knew it should and the pod was doing its job.The boat was nose down and it was obvious that the back was lifting first and this was preventing the nose from having the correct angle so she just stayed buried. I was surprised how quick she was going considering this and had the feeling that if she lifted that she would have really taken off. All this was in only 12 knots of wind. We didn't expect the boat to lift until we had 16 knots. Believe it or not... we don't have a GPS so we had to estimate speed from the RIB alongside. Everyone agreed on 15 knots. So the second bottle bit the dust in the ensuing BBQ.

I discussed the events with Malcolm who suggested two things to try before we start modifying things. First we remove the aft planing surface to stop it lifting too early and secondly we need to sheet in more and sail more upwind to decrease any pitching moment.

All day the Moths were flying around us on their hydrofoils teasing us to come out and play. They were all eager to burn off Sailrocket. I was laughing to myself thinking, 'Mate, when this thing lifts its skirts I could take out half your fleet in one pass like a bloody great carbon scythe, hydrofoils or no hydrofoils.' They were having a ball.

Day 3

Team - Paul Larsen, Helena Darvelid, Andy Bellamy, Richard Pemberton, James Boyd.

Another great sailing day beckoned so out we went again. We are by this time increasingly confident in the handling of the boat and can begin to concentrate on the sailing. Today the breeze was up to 12-14 knots and the water was a bit choppier. We did one run down the outside of the moored boats in the rougher water and once I sailed upwind the nose popped up and she was off. The amount of spray was incredible and I was taking alot of water back in the cockpit. I couldn't see anything but the prison on top of Portland!!! Man it was wet and now I can fully sympathise with Yves Parlier about stepped hulls. We estimate we were doing around 15-18 knots so alot of the boat is still in the water. There doesn't seem to be as drastic a 'Hump' to get over as we expected and the hull form seems to put on speed quite progressively.

I was now confident with handling the boat whilst sailing so we decided to have another go but this time inside the moored boats on the proper speed course where the water was flatter. It was low tide so we couldn't get in very close but still it was a vast improvement.

I sailed the boat upwind onto the course and then bore away, there was still alot of spray but not as much and I could see forward alot better. The nose was lifting nicely and the boat was going quicker. Whilst looking at the sail it was obvious that the boom was struggling as it was bowing quite alot which made the sail very full. In a brief spurt the boat really sat up but I was out of runway and had to dodge obstacles. All agreed that the third bottle of champers was history.

Down the speed course for the first time. The nose has lifted but the transom is only just starting. The third bottle of champers is in the wake somewhere. Alot of water in cockpit.
There was nothing to be learnt from doing another run. The speed was now limited by the sailshape. The lovely Doyle D4 sail couldn't hold its shape because the boom was too bendy. There is no use just sailing for the sake of it. Every run has to have a purpose and a value. We are aiming just to change one thing at a time. At twenty knots there is bound to be alot of spray due to the fact that the boat is aiming at much higher speeds. I don't expect it to come clean until around the mid-thirties. We went ashore and pored over the video and photos. The boom needed changing as we are only lightly tensioning up the sail at this stage. Loading it up more would simply break it so we packed up the boat and already a second boom is being sourced. The sail is back up at Doyle's for some modifications to take some more curve out of the luff and then we can go about ripping into the fourth bottle of bubbly.

The ball of spray, the bendy boom, the pod lifting out, the choppy water... it's all there. I'm in there somewhere. We are doing an estimated 15 knots so there is bound to be lots of spray as the main hull begins to lift.

Overall

Absolutely stoked about the progress that has been made. After day 1 I thought we were going to have quite a few issues just handling the boat on the water in its non-sailing form.

That is now not an issue and we can focus on the sailing performance. It speaks volumes for the work done in design and build that everything could be done easily and quickly to get through this tricky stage without requiring any modification. The fact that we haven't broken anything has not gone un-noticed. For a relatively simple sail there are seven control lines that all need to be used to do one run. They all have a definite purpose and they all work. Everything works.

Sailrocket could easily be sailed and handled by just three people. It is very robust which allows someone to be able to run along all the topsides to adjust things in between runs.

The project still lacks money and this means that it lacks two of the most important bits of kit... a GPS and a fast RIB. There is not a single piece of data coming off the boat and this needs to be addressed.

Once the new boom is in place and the sail is recut we will be back in action and my gut feeling is that the next two bottles will fall quite quickly. The boat is nowhere near powered up yet and we are just idling along so the loads are relatively minor. We have learnt to walk and now we can start to run. Real speed is just around the corner.
BRING ON THE SPEED.

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