YEEHAA!!! The winged ROCKET hits the water at last

Well here they are party people, shots of SAILROCKET on the water sailing with the new Solid wing sail. Great shots are courtesy of Mark Lloyd. The weather systems are coming through in a steady procession and yesterday I just felt that it was worth getting set up for a possible afternoon window.

It’s a huge bonus to the project that it only takes two of us a little over an hour to set up and it gets quicker every time. Mark came down from Lymington on very short notice and local Moth sailor Alex Adams did likewise. The weather looked perfect as we hurried to make the most of the fading light.

We checked and double checked everything. I decided to fit the DESIGNCRAFT air rudder just to get used to it being there as we may require it very shortly. The wingtip fairings which complete AEROTROPE’s beautiful wing profile were not fitted. Of course, as is the norm in all sailing projects funded or not, something that always performs faultlessly decides to go wobbly at a crucial time. So the RIB started cutting out. Turned out it was a dodgy fuel line so we just cut it and stuck the free end into the tank and the show was back on.
It was obvious that the wind was dropping off and the TACKTICK display only read 8-10 knots on the water. We went for it anyway as any experience on the water was going to be valuable for the first time. The Wing was slow to raise as in the light winds it was a little tail heavy so I had to control its angle constantly so it wouldn’t drop into the beam. This required three hands. Easily solved and not a problem… just slower than usual. It will be easier in more breeze. SAILROCKET blew around a lot more than usual as the wing continued to give lift at very fine angles to the wind where the soft sail would normally back wind.
CHRIS’ AMAZING DESIGN IS RAISED IN ITS ELEMENT. SAILROCKET IS STILL TEHTHERED TO THE RIB. NOT MUCH WIND…PHOTO-MARK LLOYD


We only had 10 knots of wind when Alex released the final tether. I would like to say we exploded off… but we didn’t. I had a new comms. set up to talk to the RIB and continued relaying data back although one of the great things about the wireless TACKTICK instruments is that the RIB can also have a display which receives data off the boats instruments.


OFF SHE GOES…WELL SORT OF. PRETTY IDEAL FOR THE FIRST OUTING REALLY. THE WINGTIPS ARE NOT FITTED FOR THIS TRIAL. PHOTO-MARK LLOYD
Malcolm has estimated that we will need slightly stronger winds for lift off, i.e. to get SAILROCKET over the ‘Hump drag’ and onto the plane than before. This is because the wing is much smaller than the soft sail. As we approached the end of the course we hooked into a small gust where the apparent topped out at 13 knots and SAILROCKET surprisingly started to lift off. We were worried that the added weight of the wing would be a bit much for the small outboard float but it also lifted out of the water quite easily. Another box ticked.


LIFT OFF IN LESS THAN 13 KNOTS OF WIND. SAILROCKET BEGINS TO STEP UP OUT OF THE WATER AND THE POD BREAKS FREE. THIS IS BETTER THAN EXPECTED. THE AIR RUDDER IS JUST FEATHERING AND SERVES AS A BIG WIND VANE. ONLY DOING 11.9 KNOTS HERE. PHOTO-MARK LLOYD

In the light winds and rapidly fading light we only managed 11.9 knots. This didn’t matter. We got the whole show back to shore and Helena and I put her back in the container completely unscathed.
All the systems worked perfectly and she only needs a few little adjustments before her next outing. All the work, planning, experience and forethought are paying off.
We are absolutely delighted to get this first outing behind us. I am very confident of handling the craft from here on in.
The DESIGNCRAFT air rudder swung freely and the ‘air tiller’ is built and ready to be used.
So far so good.
The prospect is now there that a team of only three of us can launch, sail and film a whole outing onboard SAILROCKET. This is no small feat for such a radical craft that can only go in one direction at world record setting speeds.
SAILROCKET remains setup on the WPNSA apron ready for any weather window that comes along.
HAPPY DAYS.
The website is getting updated and my Blog spot is active. I can now do updates off my phone so sailing days should be pretty up to date.
A huge thank you to all of you that have helped us get this far. It’s only going to get better. I hope you all feel as excited as the rest of us.
A press release will follow soon.

Hope all is well,
Paul and the team.