JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014 - 47

The main structure is made of pre-impregnated
carbon fibre

like someone trying to push you over
by pushing at the soles of your shoes:
they could push you sideways, but not
over. This allows the boats to handle
a lot more power without tipping over
like 99% of other sailing craft.
With VSR2, they have made a package
that has a huge amount of power on
a very efficient, low-drag platform.
The boat is designed to constantly
seek stability, like a well-built model
airplane. At high speed, the pilot can
take his hands off the controls. VSR2
is designed to have enough power and
efficiency to be able to drag a foil that
is ploughing and cavitating madly
through the water at over 60 knots.

Ambitious targets
In order to do the 500 meter long
record course over 56 knots, you need
to be hitting peak speeds around 60
knots. It would not be worth trying to
build a very expensive, complex boat
just to go a little faster than a simple
kite surfer for a year or two. The new

Construction

* Design team: Malcolm Barnsley, Chris
Hornzee-Jones, George Dadd, Paul
Larsen, Wang Feng
* Build team: Ben Quemenar, Matt
Meltzer, Paul Larsen, Helena Darvelid
* Metal work: SeaTek engineering,
Quayside engineering, Peak engineering
* New foil construction: Dan Emuss,
Independent Composites Ltd., Bristol,
UK

Materials
The main structure is made of preimpregnated carbon fibre with a
Nomex honeycomb core. SP-High
Modulus (Gurit's marine business)
was involved in the Sailrocket project from the very early stages and
supplied materials including Ampreg
22, prepregs from its SE 84LV and
SE 70 product ranges, and some dry
reinforcements, along with technical
services. Titanium is used throughout.
Ekspan provided technical support
for the main foil design, which was
built by Composite Craft in Cowes.
The foils were cured in Green Marine
autoclaves at their new Hythe facility.
The wing is built around a Compotech carbon spar. A polyester heat
shrink film supplied by HIFI Films is

VSR 2' dimensions

Empty weight: 275 kg
Length: 12.2 m (40')
Width: 12.2 m (40')
Total wing area: 22 m²
Projected wing area: 18 m²

used for the wing skins. The rigging
involves a lot of use of Marlow SK90
dyneema, Spinlock clutches and Harken pulleys and hardware.
VSR2 has a Cosworth data logging
system that measures everything from
wind speed to structural loads. Record
runs will be timed using sophisticated
Trimble GPS systems that are accurate
down to centimetres.
The world absolute water speed record hasn't been broken since 32 years
ago, when Ken Warby was clocked at
511.13 km/h (or 276 knots) on his
Spirit of Australia speedboat, thereby
setting a new world record.
This occurred on 8 October 1978 at
Blowering Dam in Australia. Earlier
that same day during his first attempt,
he had already broken the previous
record set by the American Lee Taylor
on 30 June 1967 (459 km/h), with a
top speed of 464 km/h.
Ken Warby, the world's fastest man
on water thus far, did more than just
pilot his "hydroplane" - he designed
and built it himself from plywood
and glass fibre over a spruce and
Oregon-fir frame, with aluminium
cowlings and tail plane, and glass fibre
air intakes. The Spirit of Australia, a
motorboat streamlined like a fighter
plane, was powered by a Westinghouse
6,000 HP jet engine.
Its rear rudder and two side "skates"
equipped with fins enabled it to be
qualified as a boat and gave it some
stability, although the slightest disturbance at the water surface could potentially have dramatic consequences.
Almost 50% of speed record attempts
terminate in a deadly accident. n

No93 December 2014 /

More information:
www.sailrocket.com

Feature Marine

The boat was designed and built by the
Sailrocket team in the Vestas R&D facilities in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Construction took 16 months.

boat had to do more than that to justify the all-round effort, so it also had
to meet a number of highly specific,
demanding criteria:
- to be dynamically stable in a number
of conditions, including total failure
of the main foil at 60 knots (the boat
must remain stable when encountering either cavitation or ventilation
of either foil);
- to be able to handle sailing loads
over 60 knots, including a 1G turn
with a realistic safety margin;
- to be able to operate over 50 knots in
winds from 20-30 knots and in much
rougher water than the first boat;
- to have a very easily manageable
wing that fully depowers when the
main sheet is eased (it should be able
to feather when the boat is towed
back up to the top of the course after
each run, so the crew don't have to
lower it each time);
- to be able to carry two people at
world record speeds without
reducing safety margins;
- to be highly configurable, modular
and easily folded to fit in a 40'
container;
- to have enough structural reserve to
be easily upgraded for faster future
attempts if necessary.

jec composites magazine 47

http://www.sailrocket.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014