You can just make out the slack back beam stay arcing out to This is what happened next
the left of the roll-bar. This means the beam is coming back.
I've already gone to full lock on the steering and the boat is
skidding sideways. We are still doing 45 knots and are about
aft and the forces to go out of alignment. The hull tore free
to pull -3.5G's forward and 3.2G's sideways as the whole show
from the beam as the 700kg load on the main foil wrenched it
comes to a thumping halt in less than a second. I remember
around as if hooked up to an industrial lathe. The beam hit the
this bit! water nose down like a grader blade and stopped instantly.
The hull speared forward and twisted. I was thrown forward
and collected the beam with my head on the way through. Thankfully my thick
Instantly I pulled back on the steering rod
Australian skull prevented the beam from scratching the newly fitted
with my left hand... The next thing I really
roll bar behind!
remember was becoming faintly aware
in hospital that I was asking the same
On inspection, the beam-stay was still intact so it must have been the forward
question over and over...
stay termination. Further inspection showed that the ‘dog-bone’ toggle had come
“What happened”?
free from the lashing. The carbon toggle was still in the forward hull compartment.
We had always been aware of the importance of this not failing so as a precaution
We had suffered a big and violent crash.
we had fitted a dormant safety strop. The annoying thing was this had also failed.
We went from 50 mph to a standstill in
Externally it had looked fine but it appears that chafe had worn it thin in one spot
1 second. I had been knocked out. My
so that when it was required... it failed also. I can only blame myself and the
helmet had been wiped off and I had
thoroughness of my inspection. I liken it to driving out into the desert. You look in
some nasty cuts from my forehead to
the boot and check you have an inflated spare tyre... but you don’t actually take
my neck. Nick and the team focused on
the tyre out and give it a full inspection. Then the time comes when you need it...
getting me to hospital and thankfully, the
and you discover it has been rubbing on the other side and it will only get you a
French in their little tenders had gone
few miles down the track.
out and somehow managed to retrieve
the boat. I still don’t know how they did
In one respect I was relieved. It was not the boat’s fault. On the other hand I felt I
it in such windy conditions considering
had let the boat down. I have no doubt that that was going to be a record run for
what a mess it was in. They left that night
the mile at least. For the rest of our time in Walvis we never had a run that started
and I never got a chance to thank them.
as well as that one. I spent a day at home whilst the team sorted out the mess...
I spent a surreal night in hospital trying
after that it was business as usual. Twelve days later we were ready to sail again.
to work out what had happened, what
We had some great conditions but I wasn’t too keen to go 100% straight after a
was real and what wasn’t. It was all a bit
massive crash. By now we were into our second 28 day record period. We still
confusing and lying there trying to piece
had time and decided not to take unnecessary risks. In hindsight, they were the
it all together, I didn’t sleep much.
best days we were going to get, but given the circumstance at the time I know we
made the right decision. I wondered how it would feel getting back in the cockpit
The next day I couldn’t wait to get back
after the crash. I told myself and those who asked that it didn’t worry me. It didn’t
down to the boat. I had to make sense
really... but it does linger in the back of your mind before you make a bold call on
of it all. Nick, Alex, Hiskia and the team
whether to go or not. The boat had finally bitten me. I was now wearing a high
had done a great job in getting the boat
quality full face helmet, a HANS brace (head and neck support) and a harness
back. The poor thing was in worse shape
designed to stop me getting thrown forward but allowing me to get out vertically.
than me. The front of the wing was just
A new seat had been made to allow me to get lower in the cockpit. The first run
totalled. Flaps were missing and bits
went well as we began the process of dialling VESTAS SAILROCKET in to her
were twisted and torn off everywhere. By
optimal settings. It was great to be back. I’m now so familiar with the boat and the
analysing the onboard footage, Helena
course that many things happen automatically. There is no time to worry about
had seen that just before the impact
other issues once you are sailing.
the beam had swung hard aft. This
meant that the forward beam stay had
It was about this time that we got news that the Macquarie Innovations team
failed. This allowed the beam to swing
had just sneaked through 50 knots down in Victoria. The success of the
»
  JUNE 2009 : MULTIHULL REVIEW  37
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