Sailboarders raise the hurdle...

 

Yesterday in the 'French Trench' Antoine Albeau caught the gust of his life and has set a new unofficial world speed sailing record of 49.09 knots. The wind was reported to be between 45 and 50 knots... with gusts.
I'm pretty sure that these guys have their act together to get this record ratified and that Antoines run will be the new hurdle. Great stuff... but still not quite what they were ultimately seeking. It is now so tantalizingly close.
Here's a picture of Antoine at last years Walvis Bay Speed Week in September...

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Regardless of the whole 50-knot thing, he must be stoked to be at the top of the pack. I would be.

It was a stinking hot night last night. We had the fan running throughout. There was even light rain falling on the container in the morning. The weather is quite different from last year alright. The last two days have been on the light side and pretty much unuseable for us.
yesterday we were at war with the boats electrical system as we chased a fault through the wind data logging network. Today the battle will continue.
We will still rig up today in preperation as it will no doubt be good to do a dry run across to speed-spot to make sure the rest of the show is up to scratch.
The new 20' container has arrived and is sitting beside our current 40 footer. We are expending. Today I will begin fitting it out for boat building.
So plenty to do as always. The wind WILL come.

Cheers, Paul.

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