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Macquarie Innovations is reportedly closer in essence to Extreme 50, which was named for the holy grail in this discipline of the sport—achieving 50 knots under sail. That red vessel, itself an evolution of the famed YPE, has led to the new vessel, which is purported to have a shorter, lower-aspect ratio wing than the yellow boat and a longer and wider base for its tripod floats. Cunningham and his team indicated roughly five years ago that Extreme 50 was capable of improving on YPE’s performance by 14 percent—a number that they maintain is also true of the newest boat. Back then, the red boat was clocked at 43.35 knots in winds that measured 18 to 20 knots. So far, performance data and photographs of Cunningham’s latest venture are exceedingly hard to come by, which is just the way the wizard likes it.
 The flying Frenchmen aboard Vecteur Vitesse claim a top speed of 42.12 knots. | |
Just a little to the north there are several British-based speed efforts that bear mention, particularly Bootiful, Andy Green and Tim Marriot’s answer to Cunningham’s dominance, and Sailrocket, the name that naval architect Malcolm Barnsley has given to his quest for speed supremacy. Green and Marriot’s project has been in the offing for over six years. It is, in essence, a length-equals-speed approach to the record as the designers have created a 60-foot, soft-sailed vessel that at first glance doesn’t look so radical. However, the genius behind this boat is that it uses windsurfing technology for steering. Instead of rudders, which the designers feel would introduce unnecessary drag, Bootiful has a mobile rig that can be moved forward or aft to adjust the heading of the vessel.
 The seemingly normal Bootiful is a twin-hulled, 60-foot speedster with windsurfer-like steering. | |
While Green and Marriot continue to experiment with their vessel, Barnsley and his Sailrocket cohorts have built a one-fifth-scale model of their single-tack craft and tested it, most recently attaining 16 knots of speed in 13 knots of wind. Barnsley, who reveals that his concept is based upon Bernard Smith’s elegantly simple design work laid out in the circa-‘60s book "The 40-knot Sailboat," claims that Sailrocket’s performance computations indicate a potential for 53 knots of speed in 22-knot winds.
In contrast to YPE, plans call for the rig on Sailrocket to be made of a more conventional soft sail that will be inclined to weather. Barnsley realizes that both these choices limit the rig’s efficiency in comparison, but he maintains that his vessel will be almost 150 pounds lighter than Cunningham’s, which he says should compensate for the performance loss. He also expects that the inclined rig will create lift, effectively carrying up to 40 percent of the 30-foot vessel’s weight. (For additional information and pictures on this project, log on to the Sailrocket website at www.sailrocket.fsnet.co.uk/.)
Of course there are numerous other speed seeking syndicates out there, each following their own path toward achieving blazing speed across the water. Someone, somewhere, will eventually harness the wind sufficiently well to exceed 50 knots. It will be a remarkable accomplishment, not only on its on merits, but also because it will give the rest of us touched by speed demons a little comfort. The next time your fellow sailors or crew accuse you of putting too much emphasis on boat speed, let ‘em know where you stand. In the world of speed-seeking fanatics, you’re barely under the influence.
Setting The Record Straight Official records in the world of speed sailing are broken down into classes by virtue of sail area. Simon McKeon and Tim Daddo set the outright speed record in October of 1993 aboard the famed Yellow Pages Endeavour in Sandy Point, Australia—46.52 knots—when the boat was configured as a C-Class vessel. The other existing records include:
On land, the current speed-sailing record—116.7 mph—is held by Bob Schumacher and Bob Dill aboard Iron Duck, a 39-foot, fixed-wing, slewed landsailer. The record on ice allegedly stands at 145 mph, though that remains unconfirmed. |
