Here she comes! VESTAS Sailrocket 2 sails over the 'hump'

No matter how much theory there is behind an idea, nothing beats seeing it actually work for real before your own eyes.
This was the case on this day when VESTAS Sailrocket 2 demonstrated that she could get up to speed, albeit modest speed now, from a standing start. The low speed performance of these outright speed sailing boats is often heavily compromised in the quest for pure speed... and true to the 'rocket' name, if they can't get off the launch pad... there is no outer space.
We put a lot of thought into this aspect of the sailing throughout the design and build. Many options were built into VSR2 to help her get started. On our first outings we used nothing... as a reference. Now we are trying out the various options. We were very surprised on this outing at the effectiveness of adding a fixed skeg on the back float. I wasn't expecting to go quick in the relatively moderate conditions. The minute I eased the sheet and freed up the wing I knew things were working and that she wanted to go.
Once she got going we quickly ran out of room. I left the wing fully eased as speed was not the objective of the day. We had seen something special. The Rocket was flying for the first time. For me this will be one of the most significant days in this radical boats life. The speed will come quickly now although I'm sure we are far from being out of the woods.
Edit: Helena Darvelid/Vestas Sailrocket
Music: Noze and Mr Scruff

[sydneybikerider]

What an interesting journey you are having! Can wait till you sheet it in and unleash the beast that lives in the heart of your new speed machine! Thanks for keeping us involved!

[ascameronis]

Just brilliant. This is so exciting. Can't wait to see what she cam really do!!!

[wardy]

how on earth do u stop yourself from sheeting that wing all the way in and seeing what she has really got!
she looks as though she is going to be sooper quick!

[Francebras]

check the Hydroptere. It carries a full crew...

[brucebruce]

Hydroptere will never go faster than it does now until the sail rocket team solves the hydrodynamic issues with the foil design.

[tobuslieven]

Is Sailrocket a proa? And then is it an Atlantic proa because the windward hull is larger, or a Pacific proa because the sail is on the leeward hull? I'm curious what people think.

[adav]

плюсаните, кто тоже слушает Юлько))))

[daki]

so much technology, for such marginal progression. you would expect it to go twice as fast as the recent record...but still a relatively low tech kite board still holds it, and can be carried in a backpack . sometimes less technology has the edge guess...
vestas could save a lot of weight, money and imageloss by stripping the thing down to something that is similar to a windsurf set; up till now those reach similar achievements. I seriously question the technical filosphy of this project.