Blown Away. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 truly smashes the Outright world speed sailing record*

24th of November,2012. This is the day that VESTAS Sailrocket 2 took speed sailing into a whole new era. Having already broken the existing Outright world speed sailing record by the biggest margin in the records history a little over a week earlier, the team took to the waters of Walvis Bay in strong winds to try and be the first to take the sport over the 60 knot average mark.
This video shows the third run of the day. The record attempt had been plagued by unusually light winds but they knew that on this day, Walvis Bay was going to deliver the goods. After 11 years of hard work on a 'roller coaster of highs and lows'... everything was in place for something big to happen. Founder and co-designer of the Sailrocket project, Malcolm Barnsley, had flown in to see his dream play out before his own eyes. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 has put a mark way up on the graph to show everyone what is possible.
*Record subject to WSSRC ratification
Aerial photography by Bernt Bruns.
Directed, filmed and edited by Ben Holder.

[@xyacht99d13]

Proud to be a Shareholder of Vestas Windpower Denmark.... Fantastic record who could predict this unbelivable speed on Water 10 years ago. Congratulations to all of the involved persons in the team.

[@tobuslieven]

0:54 Amazing acceleration there.

[@Challengeandadventure]

Congratulations Paul and the VESTAS Sailrocket 2 team.!! Wow

[@Boatflix]

Congratulations to the Vestas Sailrocket team and rocketeer Paul!

[@builder1966]

Malcolm Barnsley you are a brilliant man,,Paul and the A Team are a bunch of LEGENDS,,cant wait for the DOCO!!!

[@erikjohnson2976]

That is so unbelievably cool. The ship looks like an airship landing on the water. Congratulations to the team!

[@geodesic9]

No words can convey my outright elation for you and the team. Well done. Bust the shit out of 70 now.

[@benharris8445]

Hi Paul Seeing you on the A-Class last weekend really made me remember that I was sailing against the worlds fastest sailor!

[@GoldenArrowMarineOfficial]

Jaw dropping astonishment at this incredible feat of endeavour and determination.. Hats off to you.

[@johndate1776]

Simply unbelievable!!! Congratulations to the entire team.

[@Hobiedaze]

I love sailing even more once again. Thanks thanks thanks!

[@veryfussy]

Congratulations Paul. Your dad always sang your praises. What a feat. A true adventurer.

[@Greenflashtech]

I just don't think that ever again the record will be smashed by such a huge margin. Amazing and well done!

[@BobArmstrong_CoSy]

This is the realization of the vision of Bernard Smith's book "The 40-knot Sailboat" I was awed by 50 years ago . Next goal , a 2 way run . Then , including a tack .

[@danerlich7393]

When this video as posted Sailrocket II's magnificent achievements had yet to receive WSSRC ratification. Both the records were in fact later ratified - so what you are looking at here is the Official CERTIFIED FASTEST sailboat on the planet - with a very modest and respectful team who share the credit as due and who raised the bar for everyone. Amazing - eleven years never giving up from all adversity to well deserved triumph - and you made sailing EXITING 78 MPH is never boring.

[@Jangle2007]

My god, it's beyond astounding....beyond astonishing. I mean, really, it's mind-warping. So many superlatives have been used to describe it, but really....you have permanently and forever changed the face of speed sailing. It's an all new game now. And in reality, it's not really a game. Who is in a position to possibly challenge your record in the next few years? Meanwhile, from your blog, I imagine that you'll be back to Walvis Bay to wring more out of an optimized VSR2. Godspeed!

[@ldvance01]

You crabbed the boat so that the hull points directly into the apparent wind, thus minimizing aerodynamic drag from the fuselage? Simply brilliant.

[@chikken_soup]

Fuckin hell, what an appropriate name for this

[@montauktimelord]

Fantastic! Bang on the design speed, and still a bit more to come in ideal conditions! The bar has been raised out of reach of any other vessel. The VSR2 Team rules the speed sailing world!

[@Engineeringcam]

This put a smile on my face. Simply amazing.

[@holmstock9140]

Helena, Paul & team...Fantastic! Watching the video over and over again and realizing how much hard work. 10 years is it?..there is behind your success. Maybe I was even crying for a moment, it was good to see you so happy! Congratulations from all of us in Stockholm! /Mikael D

[@nohaters808]

Brilliant! Congratulations to an amazing team!

[@sellparker]

Congratulations. Wonderful story for a great crew Good guys do win!

[@ascameronis]

Best video I've ever seen!!

[@pluvious]

amazing and inspiring! congratulations to all involved, as it was undoubtedly a full on team effort. you didn't just break the record, you smashed it! for those of us watching and who follow sailing, this is THRILLING. i wish i could have been then to see it happen. give yourselves an olympic gold medal, an academy award, a nobel prize. you've earned them all!

[@scannorse]

This is epic ! Holy cow ....i really really envy you this achievement. Congratulations to you Paul and to the complete crew. You guys really deserve ti :-)

[@buzzzz1964]

Congrats Great team effort.

[@hackneysaregreat]

stunning! what a great ship!!

[@franglediddup]

just fantastic, congratulations.

[@LaurenceCarter1]

That is ridiculous! Well done!

[@bertboltjes2000]

Fantastic!

[@Yachty4000]

Amazing congratulation to the whole team!

[@DRebelRam]

I thought after the first few seconds with the guy in the background it was going to be some wind up! Super achievement!

[@bomvu]

Jeepers, that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Awesome effort and a well earned place in the history books.

[@tdelopez]

Fabuleux, quelle nervosité et quelle accélération au départ du run, le kite est laissé sur place instantanément ! Chapeau bas.

[@TheTeamChad]

It looks a little scary when steering parallel to the beach. Phenomenal!!!!! Good Show!!!!!

[@alvor1jd]

awesome, great job!

[@Giovanniram22]

Great design, Great achievement!

[@pridgway]

Simply amazing!

[@MrCaptMarty]

This is it! 65.45knot average speed run - will take a lot to beat it. Congrats to Paul and the Sailrocket 2 team...

[@danerlich7393]

This boat, design, crew - is not finished doing it's work - it has room to go faster and I am hopeful that they have the opportunity to take this miracle and see where it takes all of us. BTW - they have a lot of class - the name of the boat in honour of Bernard Smith, the cheer to his memory - a lot of class.

[@MegaShortcuts]

Fantastic guys. More to come yet?????

[@timenator9]

Fantastic result. It's up to us windsurfers to take it back now! :-)

[@triunfototal1]

Terrific.............

[@multihuller]

Unbelievable speed. I am happy to reach 15 knots with my proa. Hope you can increase to 60+ over the 500m. Wish you all the best.

[@MikeLeemann]

Awesome.

[@rfsimard]

Very Impressive 68 knots!!!

[@clevelandmotley]

Incredible work. That shot from the kite is rad nice camera addition. Its really cool to watch your documentation improve as much as your boat. how long before your wing is up there with the kite?

[@danerlich4723]

There were at least three machines. A shore gate with timers used for world record verification. The Trimble system - which has I believe been chosen for this purpose as well - accurate to like a few cm and a conventional GPS. Not only this but all the go pro cameras are digital - and they can be used to confirm speeds - a forth method. No the speeds is as unbelievable as it might seem VERY very real - an outstanding achievement. The envelope just got bigger.

[@SaulOhio]

I'm not worthy!!!! AWESOME AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[@Jangle2007]

Bernt - Was it your aerial work that made it into the video? If so, bloody well done, mate. Fantastic view of the record speed. My guess is that the aerial view at 1.00 in video was an earlier run because the lee pod was touching down as SR passed the timing hut, whereas at video 3.57 the pod was flying high past the hut and VSR2 was actually pulling away from the chase plane. Regardless, the video is tremendous, and your aerials are simply spectacular.

[@birdman7984]

Yes Bernard Smith revealed a design far far ahead of his time and the available technology to make it a reality. Paul Larson, Malcolm Barnsley and the rest of the Vestas Sail Rocket team took that design and with G-d's help they breathed life into it - they drove the forty knot sailboat - right up to 65.45 knots and a peak speed of 68 knots. I have sailed at 35 knots on my hydrofoil - and it feels incredible - Paul sailed his beast at almost twice that speed and he knew he nailed it. Wild...

[@ClarkSail]

Insane

[@cIimber314]

wow, congratulations

[@Jangle2007]

FYI - aerial video work was a remote control plane with gopro unit on it. Fantastic flying in 30 knots wind.

[@meozzy]

NOW YOU"RE SAILING!!!!

[@paularsen1]

68.33 knots on the Official Trimble GPS.

[@wpiescik]

Brilliant. You put the mark up high. I have to cheer for the kiters since I am one, but congratulations none the less. I wonder watching the video about the peculiar angle of the wake; is the boat crabbing that much? I read elsewhere that there are little or no leeward forces, so it should not be leeway...

[@blahblahblack]

All I can say is you guys make even grown ups believe magic is real!

[@Jangle2007]

We're talking about small differences in our understanding about the VSR2 wing extension ("WE") mechanism. The WE is designed to produce lift to fly the entire sail foil and pod assembly above the water - less drag, right? The WE has a flap - similar to an aileron - that has preset positions to adjust the WE flying height . BUT, the new speeds achieved exceeded the most negative (i.e. highest upward flap deflection), so the team ran out of adjustment angles. Small matter to fix next time.

[@RobSangster]

Wow, the acceleration as you bore away looked amazing. Did you record how many g you experienced when accelerating?

[@felixcollier9793]

I want one!

[@densls1]

Hot Damn!!

[@bobwebb1862]

Paul's a great guy.Malcolm who designed it is an excellent man, friend for decades, colleague from the past and an excellent jazz musician too.Paul invited me to come and visit;should have done so and got involved but did not have the time with work commitments..bah Yep,a single directional proa,but it was designed by a man with a long background in hovercraft development and years in aero & sail research at the wolfson institute,southampton uni.Theoretician,so the knowledge applies generally.

[@SgtHulkasToe]

Astounding. The equivalent to a sub 3 minute mile.

[@JasonRobinsonidaho]

Annnnd the KZbin fun police kill the soundtrack. Time to re-upload with out the music guys. the audio is too good to have this staying up with out the commentary and the sounds from the environment.

[@Jangle2007]

Yes, I think VSR2 will own the record for the foreseeable future. Nobody else is working on a design for above 65 knots. All potential contenders are now way behind the design curve and years from catching up. Meanwhile SR2 needs minor wing extension mods to prevent it flying too high...the immediate reason Paul couldn't push faster above 68 knot run 20 top speed. The design team will analyze the strain gauge data as well. Interesting to see whether the foil is game for higher speeds?

[@skywalkercorp]

W ay to go, Congratulations

[@helenephilion5096]

complètement capoté ! pour les passionnés de vent !! Et de sensations fortes à voir

[@Jangle2007]

Best part: 0:53 when VSR2 accelerates down the course leaving the kite surfer in the dust. Krikey, he was even pulling away from the chase plane! I'd say it was fast!

[@SoggySox1]

the pod is set at that angle so it will point into the apparent wind at its design speed.

[@bobwebb1862]

Hi Paul, what was the windspeed on that day? Also, do you see that you can push the speed much higher? ..the force vectors are getting fairly convergent at above 3 times windspeed. What does your craft weigh?

[@098josh098]

Holy crap

[@danerlich4723]

Paul Larson and his team have been chasing a target for ten years that has during that time not remained static but has moved tauntingly out of their grasp. No longer it was met and surpassed and by a margin sufficient to give others pause for thought for us to give them all our thanks and respect for what they have achieved Bernard Smith is smiling down on these guys from Heaven above because they proved him correct. May “He” reveal to us the hidden secrets of the universe. Thank G-d.

[@nebraskatpp]

Holy Crap! What happened to the gel coat or paint on that thing?

[@danerlich4723]

No the wing extension does not need modifying or physical changes - it is adjustable and while you are correct that the setting on the record run was less than optimal it is adjustable with a flap control to get the elevation exactly where they want it to be. The next run will be better when they have this set for the higher wind speeds. The boat needs to be strengthened to go further - they upper limit was 65 knots plus not much for safety margin. They know exactly what they are doing.

[@henrynevins]

Paul & Sailrocket Team, Congratulations! What was the prevailing wind, 30kts? Could you break your own record if prevailing wind was more than 30kts, say 35kts?

[@danerlich4723]

kite and windsurfers supposedly are limited to 60 knots - which is exactly why they did a 65 knot run. They did not go faster not because they can not do so but because it puts the boat at risk - it needs to be strengthened to go faster and yes they have more speed left in the design box - with a few tweaks 70+ is possible. They have solved the problem of cavitation drag limitations on the foils - elegantly. You are looking at a team that should own this record for some time to come.

[@danerlich7393]

Actually it does not need wing extension modifications. If you read their site you will see the flap is one of the pre-sets - it is adjustable and it was just not set for this speed - it needs a bit more down force direction in its range of adjustment - easily done. They already know that the structure needs beefing up - with a bit of tweaking this design can and will go faster - assuming funding for their program and they sure are worthy of it.

[@aschuurmans]

Man's latest creation and G* gets the credit....I think the 'secret' was revealed by Smith 40 years ago.

[@GeckoCkCkCk]

Does the GPS shaking add to the the velocity?

[@danerlich4723]

Well the best of luck with that. It is my understanding that kite surfing is limited to about sixty knots - which is why they went for the 65 knot run. This new reality is there to give the world pause to reflect on what has just been achieved.

[@Damsimail]

Incroyable : 65 noeuds !!!!

[@dougschickler]

So amazing. Ever think about 100?

[@danerlich4723]

This boat is as valid as the X1 was to break the sound barrier after being carted up to high altitude by a bomber and released. The brilliance of Bernard Smith's concept was that the forces on the boat are in balance. The genius of the team was to execute on the concept and over come the obstacles to this performance. That it does not sail on both tacks is not relevant to the achievement. 65 knots is beyond inspiration and massively significant.

[@BXtreme3D]

2 Hero 3 Black bought and busy installing in new and faster chase plane. Bring it on 2013

[@walpharm]

GONE WITH THE WIND

[@chadmeyer9500]

Wow! You even made the WAVES hitting the shore go FASTER. Like maybe TWICE as fast as they normally would. Or is that just because speeding up the video to make the boat look faster sped up the waves too?

[@davidhague2840]

Amazing stuff from one of the world's largest manufacturers of wind turbines, The fast=est ever sail, a bit over 65mph... with only a 30 mph wind...

[@Jangle2007]

65.45 knots = ~75 mph

[@bernardomotard]

Jangle2007 25 knots wind. 47 km/h that day.

[@esports]

wow, ripping shop!

[@TheTalkingMoose1]

as long as the wind is only blowing one way....

[@Mazorzarch]

"JESUS CHRIST!" 15 seconds later, "Jesus Christ...."

[@greggv8]

Over 75.2 MPH!

[@russellmoore897]

Finally!!!! 65.45kts, no wonder you are all smiling!!!

[@Ezechielpitau]

Considering the last records had all been held by kitesurfers, it seems more likely that it's up to us kitesurfers to take it back :P

[@frhopker]

65.37 kts = 121.065 km/h ... wow!!

[@Jangle2007]

The wing extension flap needs a more negative adjustment setting to prevent it generating too much lift in the apparent wind speeds generated above 68 k..the run 20 setting was as negative as possible and still far too much lift. This was primary reason Paul couldn't sheet-in harder to go yet faster. From engineering assessment I understand that main hull and beam are well within limits to go faster. Haven't heard assessment for foil or rudder.

[@xo1wes]

Market plan, build half scale models available to the general public, offer them in a fiberglass model and and elite version in pure carbon fiber,. Create a whole new market for sailers. DO IT!

[@Jangle2007]

It will be very interesting to see what new R&D occurs in the kitesurfing world, but no kitesurfer is going to sail faster than 65 knots - or even close to it - with the present gear. I almost wish they could, because the VSR2 team is just looking for a reason to further advance the record.

[@danerlich4723]

Well no not really. The "secret" of this design was first penned by Bernard Smith in 1963 - fifty years ago. The principle development has been the cavitation resistant foil - that partially ventilates or aerates the high pressure side - for this they went to powerboat prop "wedge" sections rather than the conventional SCCA sections. This in addition to the significant ventilation fence on the foil helped with the "wall" and getting the efficiency to 2.3 x wind speed - critical for the record