25 thoughts on “Blown Away. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 truly smashes the Outright world speed sailing record*

  1. 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.

  2. to much going on with that geometry cant figure out what’s doing what, other than the wing

  3. 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 .

  4. 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…

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

  6. Vestas SailRocket 2 and Larso are the shit! Can’t wait to see you give your MkII boat another run for its money, hell I can’t wait for you to whip out your MkIII boat for that matter! Go Paul, you Rock!

  7. I see a sail and no engines so it fits the category of a sailboat for me.

    As for the Volvo Ocean Race, that is a Sunday afternoon sail compared to the Vendée Globe.

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

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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!

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

  13. 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…

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