44.19 kn

Well the last day fizzled. It looked great but by the time we were half way across the lagoon it was obvious that it was only a short spike. We waited a bit but then canned the day. That was it for the afternoon tides. yesterday was a pointless affair so we hit the desert for a welcome break from the routine of the boat.

We are in the throes of the afternoon tides. This will be our last shot at making use of the mile course for a few days. The camera crew have gone home and the forecast was for only 19 knots. I took the opportunity to re-paint my helmet. So of course... the wind has come up and now we are rushing to hit the course. It will only be deep enough right on sunset. Nick is out on the course already in the RIB getting everything ready. We have seen that we can get over there and setup easily within half an hour when pushed. So we'll go for it and see what happens. Maybe it's just the wind playing games. If so, we can't afford to bluff.

Well yesterday was a real ‘Ball-ache’ as we watched the last bit of what had looked like a brilliant 5 day forecast fade away. It kept us on full standby to the end and then with a final twist of malice... tried to send us into a concrete wall. I’ll admit that I had a good, hard moan about it. now that joy!

Everyone's tooling up for what is shaping up to be a special day.

We might just have got what we asked for. I'd be lying if I didn't say it makes me a little nervous. Big things can happen on days like this. Strong forces dictate the outcome inside and outside.

Firstly, congratulations are in order to two other speed sailing projects who have had success over the past couple of days. Firstly to Richard Jenkins for finally breaking the sailing land speed record on 'Greenbird'. Richard din't just sneak by the record but smashed it by 10 mph. You can check it out on www.greenbird.co.uk . Back when Richard launched his 'Windjet' water craft in Weymouth... we were just starting our first trials with Sailrocket. We had our containers side by side and have been friends ever since often offering congratulations or condolences where necessary. We understand each others joys and pains. Richard has done a brilliant job and has been a real jack of all trades in his project. England should be proud of his achievements and what he represents in this day and age.