There was no supernova of emotion, no tears… just huge smiles and a sense of arrival.
We did some pieces to camera and then carefully dropped the rig. Then we felt safe. It was only later when we checked the two onboard GPS systems that we saw we had actually hit sustained speeds over 50 knots peaking at 51.76 knots. We averaged 46.4 knots over 1000 meters. The mean wind speed was around 22 knots. VESTAS SAILROCKET had definitely arrived.
I reflected on the wing angle during the run and the knowledge that I could come in closer…. to flatter water. armed with this we headed straight back up the course. the wind was up a knot or so and the course was still lovely and flat. This was our dream day. We had plenty of time.
The wind was gusting to 25 on the second start indicating an average of around 22-23 knots… no more. I did an even flatter start up procedure focusing on getting the wing into 10 degrees as soon as she accelerated… and bloody hell… did she accelerate. apparently she pulled 0.35 G’s all the way up to 52 knots before the nose lifted. I expected her to step sideways as before but not this time. The nose floated higher… and then it went quiet… I was flying. i waited for some sort of touchdown… somewhere… but it didn’t come. the nose just kept going up until I was lookin vertically up at it! There was no rolling and I was just a passenger. It was still quiet… and strangely dry as we continued the loop. I sort of knew I was inverted. It all seemed to take so long. I consciously thought “righto boy, when this thing smacks down… get the hell out of it because you’re gonna be upside down”!!! I smacked down hard. Like someone big had full palm slapped my helmet with all their might. I was out of that boat in an instant. I was a bit beat up and bruised… but alright. I lay on the upturned hull and got my head together. My helmet was broken but I dragged the mic. over to let everyone know I was OK.
Read more about Paul Larsen’s record setting day at www.sailrocket.com