Speed-sailing boat incorporates elements from glider aircraft

There’s a growing sense of excitement and attention building up around the ‘Bloodhound’ team’s plan to send a car past 1,000mph (1,609km/h). But they aren’t the only group of British engineers tilting at a coveted speed record and seeking to push the boundaries of physics.

But while Bloodhound will use some of the most eye-watering propulsion systems ever put together, the Vestas SailRocket II relies on the wind alone. That said, just as Bloodhound is blurring the boundaries between car and missile, VSRII in many ways more closely resembles a glider than a boat — complete with a fuselage, wing and foils.

Indeed, in 2008 the first VSR took the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) B Class (boats up to 21.84m²) crown at a speed of 47.36 knots (54.5mph, 87.71km/h) shortly before launching itself nearly 10m in the air and almost doing a full loop-de-loop.

With the next version, the team is aiming to break the outright unpowered 500m record currently held by US kitesurfer Robert Douglas at 55.65 knots. But it is less interested in incrementally nudging up records and believes it can push the boundaries with what has been referred to as the speed-sailing ‘sound barrier’ at around 60 knots.