Dear readers,
There is a rare breed of people that you meet mainly when sailing. Especially during extreme sailing. You usually see them just before Christmas.
They are people who cross vast seas in tiny boats, who build radical boats, people who can carry you away, who, as the saying goes, "light up the room when they enter it". When they start talking, you hang on their every word, no matter how fantastic what they say sounds.
That's how I felt when I was allowed to sail on the French record-breaker "L' Hydroptere" in 2008. Alain Thébault was a man whose vigour was infectious. "We try to ride the magic carpet!" (We try to ride the magic carpet!) was his credo to describe what he was up to with his huge 60-foot foiler at a height of several metres. He made the surfer sign "Hang Lose" with his thumb and little finger spread apart.
Back then, I was allowed to go on board off Hyeres in the howling mistral just before Christmas. The winter was ideal for the record hunters: often mistral, empty coasts, no boats in the speed area.
At the time, we were travelling at just over 41 knots and I was allowed to steer until I was in my early 30's. I almost wet myself with excitement. The futuristic vehicle handled like a lorry - including the steering wheel. At least up to 35 knots. Then the professionals took over and the rudder became sensitive. Accelerating and dropping in the gust, the winged monster climbed up the foils to the tips. A crazy ride. Back then, we were still without helmets, special waistcoats or breathing bottles, our hair was flying in the wind and the cold winter salt air stung our eyes and faces. My fellow sailors had the foresight to wear ski goggles, but of course I didn't have any. At the time, "L' Hydroptere" had just scratched the 50-knot mark, and a little later they set a speed record of 51.36 knots. Thébault was a real mad dog: he had invested almost 15 years and all his private financial resources in the project until he finally broke the record in 2009, after almost 15 years of trying.
Paul Larsen, who broke the record with his "Vestas Sailrocket 2" to 65.45 knots in 2012, is also a man like Thébault. The Australian is a good-humoured sunshine, I met him for the first time when he was sailing with Pete Goss' huge but ill-fated monster cat "Team Philipps". You may remember the boat with the two gigantic, free-standing masts that was supposed to take part in "The Race" at the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately, it broke up in a storm during testing. Larsen, a die-hard cat sailor and speed junkie, was already talking about speed with a gleam in his eye. Less than a year later, he started his Vestas Sailrocket project. It then took him eleven years to break the record. His rollover in the air and his later stammered "this is fast...this is fast.... this IS fast" went down in the annals of record hunters. And, of course, he also sailed in December. The best wind. But in the warm Walvis Bay off Namibia instead of the cold Mistral.
And now it's almost Christmas again. And I was once again able to visit the new, young record hunters. At the beginning of December on the French coast off Leucate, Team SP 80 is slowly trying to break Larsen's record. A colourful, fun group of ex-students who came up with the record as a project at university. The Swiss team takes its name from the fact that its vessel, also a kind of trimaran, is supposed to manage 80 knots. The two drivers, Benoit Gaudiot and Mayeul van den Broek, also have that crazy glint in their eyes. Their futuristic boat breaks with much of what sailors expect of a boat; it no longer has a mast or a classic sail. Instead, it has a highly efficient kite. This is a sophisticated wing profile like the wing of an aeroplane. Understanding how it works as a propulsion system for sailors is uncharted territory, sure, but it's exciting.
As of today, just under 42 knots have been reached. But there are still a few days left until Christmas...
Merry Christmas to you too, dear readers!
Andreas Fritsch
Travel and record specialist
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