Went sailing again today. There was more wind and for awhile it looked pretty perfect.

When we got out on the water one of our biggest wing related fears was realised. A small component failed and we lost control of a procedure. We dropped the wing. It dropped flat onto the beam and I sheeted everything on hard to keep it captive. Somehow, unbelievably, the wing came out undamaged. We walked SAILROCKET into shallow water and checked again. There was a 'tear' in the carbon along the beam. It appeared that a small turn block had torn loose and the control line had continued to pull through the carbon until it too broke. This line controlled the uphaul of the strut and its failure explained why the rig dropped.

We were bloody lucky and some sort of god decided to give us a 'get out of jail free' card. The beam should be easy to repair. We jury rigged up a system to make the most of the conditions but it as SAILROCKET accelerated off it was obvious that it wasn't right or safe so I quickly bailed out. We will live to fight another day. I gave the failure alot of thought and feel happy that we have a solution which will solve alot of other problems in other areas as well.

So in this case, the cup is definitely half full. 

 

Paul Larsen
Mobile: + 44 (0) 794 684 1929
E-mail: paularsen1@aol.com
www.sailrocket.com