Hello everyone,

It has been with much joy that we have returned to the water with SailRocket. We allocated these months to the project a long time ago and it has been a frustrating period due to the lack of any suitable conditions. We built the new carbon planing surfaces for Weymouth Speedweek in October and haven't had a decent chance to try them until now. It has been that long. In the meantime we have been progressing at a necessary rate with the build of the solid wing-sail which we will update you all with later as the 'big' bits come together. Put simply, the new planing surfaces have transformed the boat. She now sits well up and out of the water and the ride has become very hard. You feel every bump. The spray has also been greatly reduced. With the craft now skimming on top of the water the rudder is much more sensitive to changes in trim.

There have been many small improvements to SailRocket ranging from better cockpit drains to DOYLE/COMPOTECH rig adjustments. One of the additions that I am sure will be enjoyed by all is the onboard camera equipment. A high quality pencil camera now comes along for the ride with me as does a microphone in the helmet to record the runs from go to whoa. You can see the camera bracket extending out the back of SailRocket in the pictures but there is enough cable to position it anywhere on the boat. We are just getting familiar with it and I'm sure that the end results will be stunning.

It really is good to be getting back amongst it. Very soon we will be launching into the full assembly of the solid wing. The COMPOTECH spar turns up next week and FIBREFUSION are ripping into finishing the numerous ribs that make its shape. Ongoing thanks to Chris and AEROTROPE, SP SYSTEMS and DESIGNCRAFT. This thing will be wild. We are getting very slick at handling the craft and it is improving to the point where we are really ready for the next stage that the wing promises to take us to. All the competition are having and dealing with the same sorts of issues confronting us. The sailboards and the Macquarie Innovations team are tantalisingly close to 50 knots but we must remember that that is just a number. It is not a barrier or a limit. Sure, it is a number that we would like to be first to... but the goal is to end up on top whatever the number is. We remain very tight with cash but rich with support. The team continues to dedicate a lot of time and effort to pulling this off. Now it's time to go to bed as tomorrow looks like another sailing opportunity and we need to be ready early so as to catch the tide. That perfect day WILL come and the numbers WILL continue to climb. I will send you all the onboard footage as soon as we get it.

Cheers all,

Paul