Vestas Sailrocket 2 – constructed at East Cowes – broke the world the world sailing speed records for 500 metres and the nautical mile in November 2012.
Remarkably, Isle of Wight engineering achievements – which were many and varied in the 20th century as seen in previous editions of Made on the Isle of Wight – have continued into the present century.
Over 10 years later – in 2023 – the records set by a boat built alongside the famous Columbine hangar at the mouth of the Medina have yet to be beaten.
The story of the world record-breaking speed sailing craft made on the Medina begins with Vestas Sailrocket. The craft was designed by Malcolm Barnsley and piloted by Paul Larsen.
In December 2008, Vestas Sailrocket unofficially broke the world record of 58.2mph set by Alexandre Calzergues in Kitesurf. This was a remarkable achievement given that this was achieved in a 22knot (25mph) breeze,
However, on breaking the record, Sailrocket performed “the full Donald Campbell”, taking off and turning over in midair.
Pilot Paul Larsen said at the time:
“As soon as the whole nose lifted I thought ‘Oh Sh**t!’ The nose just kept coming up, and I was flying pure and simple. She just kept going until I was vertical.”
Article continues below this advertisement
Fortunately, Paul escaped from the accident uninjured, saying:
“I thought when she hits upside down, get out as soon as you can. She slammed down hard and despite a few bruises and a smashed helmet, I was out of that cockpit in a flash. It was pretty gutting but then it comes with the turf.”
After the accident, both pilot Larsen and designer Barnsley were confident a further craft could be built that would smash sailing speed records.
The Isle of Wight based team then set about constructing Vestas Sailrocket 2 at the Vestas Research and Design facilities in East Cowes. The new craft took 16 months to build and was completed in March 2011.
Vestas Sailrocket 2 exploited the basic principles of aerodynamics and hydrodynamics with a design featuring a ‘super-cavitating’ carbon-fibre foil. The hull was constructed of Gurit pre-impregnated carbon fibre with a Nomex honeycomb core, and the wing skins were made of polyester heat-shrink film attached to a composite carbon spar.
The craft was 40ft long and had a 40ft overall beam with a total wing sail area of 22 square metres (236ft2).
Vestas Sailrocket 2 was taken to Walvis Bay, Namibia (in southern Africa) for its world record attempts in November 2012. On the 12th of that month, it reached a speed of 54.08knots (62 mph).
On 18th November 2012, Vectis Sailrocket 2 broke both the 500metre and nautical mile world records in wind speed conditions of 29mph. The speed for the 500m run was 59.23knots (68.1mph) and for the nautical mile 55.32knots (64mph).
But more was to come. On 24th November, Sailrocket 2 became the first craft to break the 60knot barrier (by a cool 5knots), smashing the world record for 500 metres for a 2nd time in less than a week with a speed of 65.45knots (75.2mph).
As of October 2023, both world speed sailing records still stand.
After breaking the records on 18th November 2012, pilot Paul Larsen exalted:
“Just in after the most incredible run. A whole nautical mile dipping well into the 60s on each gust. We smashed the nautical mile record.
“Damn that was a good ride!”
Paul said of his record breaking Sailrocket 2:
“I’m sitting here with great French champagne all around and smiling people. Vestas Sailrocket 2 sits outside on the lawn shivering lightly in the decreasing breeze. She has the noble composure of a race winning horse that struts around wondering what all the fuss is about.”
Island Echo readers are no doubt delighted to hear that ground breaking, innovative Isle of Wight engineering achievements are not confined to the previous century; we were still building world beaters little more than a decade ago.
But can our Island manufacture future world beaters?
In the next edition of Made on the Isle of Wight, we shall examine the World War I planes designed by Howard Wright, built by the aviation department of J. Samuel White at Cowes.
