community weblog - [ SAILROCKET WORLD SPEED SAILING ]

Pilot Paul Larsen and designer Malcolm Barnsley have produced a radical design in SAILROCKET to ultimately achieve speeds of in excess of 50 knots (57.5 mph) taking high speed sailing technology into the dawn of a completely new era.

The current world speed sailing record stands at 46.52 knots and was set in 1993 by Yellow Pages Endeavour in Australia. The sailboard fraternity came to within 0.2 of a knot of beating this record late last year. The SAILROCKET team is set to raise the record substantially.

The attempt to capture the world record will take place in Weymouth, the original home of speed sailing, later this year. The first record was set in 1972 and then raised in various increments to 36 knots in 1980 by Tim Coleman's 'Crossbow II', after which it was exceeded by the sailboards.    more...