Vestas Sailrocket 2: Towing Trials in Namibia with the hull and foils alone

by Paul Larsen

The video shows VESTAS SailRocket 2 undergoing early towing trial in Walvis Bay, Namibia at the end of April 2011. Her ultimate aim is to break the outright world speed sailing record. At the time of filming she had never been sailing. The solid wing sail is obviously not fitted for the purpose of these trials.

In some of the videos of the forward float you can see the back face of the white wedges/steps which have been added to help the boat break free of the water at low speed.

Most of the towing was done at speeds around 14-18 knots. The main foil is not doing any lifting and the boat is simply supported on the planing surfaces of the three floats.

The view aft is wonderful and will get better as the speed increases. The whole boat sort of crabs along at a 20 degree angle so the fuselage is pointing into the wind at high speed. In the view aft from the cockpit, you can see the trail of the rudder to the left passing outside the foil behind.

There is a lot of interesting stuff going on here and these tests are always very valuable in familiarising we humans with the ways of a totally new type of problem.

Note from SailRaceWin: Vestas Sailrocket 2 is to have s small wing up for the first time today. Wind speeds are around 12-15 knots.

Vestas Sailrocket 2