The Rocket Man has jetted his way across the English Channel yesterday.  This guy is nuts.  We’ve talked about him here before where he’s developed this folding wing coupled with four small turbine engines that are commonly used in high end remote controlled model airplanes.  Last I heard he was working on a ground based take-off gurney.  His site is here.  Apparently he made the 22 mile trip from Calais, France to Dover, England in 8 minutes after dropping out of an airplane at 8,800 feet.  He circled the crowd at his landing zone before deploying his chute and touching down safely in England.  He has no control surfaces (ailerons, rudder, elevator, etc.) but instead uses his feet and body to steer the jet powered wing.  What a rush that must be!

It’s that time again – time for another run of one of the most dramatic world-wide ocean races…ever.  The Volvo Ocean Race.  They start with an in-port race in Alicante, Spain on October 4th and start the first ocean leg of the race one week later.  10 Ocean Legs and 6 more in-port races later, the teams (probably not all of them) will finish their Journey in St. Petersburg, Russia sometime in June / July 2009.  Eight teams will be competing in this year’s event on newly designed 70′ monohull reaching rockets with canting keels.  These boats are heavily optimized for deep reaching in heavy and big seas and achieve speeds previously thought to have only been capable in large multihulls.  The last event’s specifically designed 60′ boats had multiple structural failures of their canting keel systems resulting in the complete loss of one vessel at sea (the sailors were rescued) and multiple boats having to head to a safe port for repairs.  Tragically Hans Horrevoets, 32 years of age from the Netherlands, died in the last event when he was washed overboard in the North Atlantic while the crew was performing a gear change due to a change in the weather.  The team managed to find Hans but he had already fallen victim to the cold waters of the Atlantic in only a short period.  This will surely be a race to watch (www.volvooceanrace.org) and it’s SO big, we sometimes even can see some television coverage of it here in the US.

An American kite boarder, Rob Douglas, has broken the world sailing speed record and edged the record ever so closer to the 50 knot barrier with an average speed of 49.84 knots. Sailing in the Luderitz speed challenge event in Cape Town, South Africa on a stretch of (real) water along a shallow beach a handful of speed freaks have been making runs under the watchful eye of the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC).  Competing is still going on this week although they’re in a holding pattern waiting for wind.  They expect they’ll resume on Thursday.  Will 50 knots be broken?  I bet you that THESE GUYS are nervous.

I’m sorry I haven’t been around here much. I’ve had a pretty hectic schedule with work and sailing but hopefully things will slow down enough for an occasional blog. I discovered this new boat over at Sailing Anarchy and thought it highly worthy of a post here. It’s an interesting concept that appears to be quite unique in a full walk-around open cockpit from bow to stern. It looks incredibly comfortable and great for novices to experts alike. See more at BoatBuilder in Denmark.