Paul aboard for record crossing

By Kath Gannaway
Beat up and bruised after sailing – and crashing – the fastest sail boat in the world across a lake in Africa, it was a moment the 38-year-old ex-pat Healesville adventurer could only have dreamed of as a boy launching hand-made wooden boats on a pond in Christie Parade.
The Vestas Sailrocket skippered by Larsen, had broken two world records for sure, and, subject to ratification by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, will claim the title of the outright fastest sailboat in the world.
The record attempt was made on 2 December (Australian time) on Walvis Bay in Namibia.
Larsen’s proud dad John told the Mail last week that news of what is being hailed as a successful world record attempt, and a photo of the boat shooting airborne across the water, was huge in Europe where speed sailboat racing is the sport of choice for the more adventurous of the world’s rich and famous.
He said his son’s journey from Healesville to the oceans of the world had included racing catamarans in the Whitsundays, setting a world record for the Yokamama to San Francisco race, winning the re-created coffee run from France to Brazil and sailing non-stop around the world in the Millenium Race as part of the Team Philips crew led by Peter Goss and with famous sailor Tony Bullimore on the crew.
It’s a Boys Own Annual adventure, with a lifestyle to match, that Paul Larsen says can be traced back to the freedom he had as a boy to use his imagination, and to dream.
Attending Healesville primary and high schools before moving on to Billanook, recreation was about being outdoors with friends.
Sponsor company Vestas is one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of wind turbines. Paul gave up a paid career in sailing to be part of the Vestas project he described as “a weird, fringe-dwelling project,” and which he said had been a huge struggle.
“The boat is totally unique, the equivalent to a drag racing car in that it does one thing extremely well,” he said. “If you want it to turn corners, or hit the brakes, it’s not that good, but if you want to go fast, it’s the fastest.”
Paul first came across the unique design concept while he was in Australia.
A meeting with an Englishman who had transformed the concept into a boat, coupled with his ambition to achieve the world speed sail record, sealed his fate.
The team has been working on the project for seven years including trialing the boat in Namibia for 12 out of the past 22 months.
“We built the boat in England and brought it to Walvis Bay because you have perfect winds and perfect flat water to sail it,” Paul explained.
The attempt saw Sailrocket hit a speed of 47.35 knots, peaking at 52.22 knots, equivalent to about 96 kilometres an hour, using just wind to power the craft.
“You can only go that fast if you have good control, and we had it,” Paul said reliving the experience.
“We took off down the course and I gave it full throttle by pulling into the wind at a nice, tight angle. The boat accelerated .35 of a G, pretty darn hard,” he said still totally thrilled by the experience two days later.
At 52 knots the boat took off and left the water like an aircraft, flew through the air, did a summersault and crashed.
“The nose floated higher … and then it went quiet … I was flying,” Paul said in his blog to the world.
“I waited for some sort of touchdown, somewhere, but it didn’t come. The nose just kept going up until I was looking vertically up at it! There was no rolling and I was just a passenger.”
The touchdown was always going to be the hard part. “I smacked down hard. Like someone big had full-palm slapped my helmet with all their might,” is his recollection of hitting the water.
He came out of it shaken … but, in true adventurer style, not stirred.
The boat didn’t fare so well.
With everything done by the WRSSC book, Paul told the Mail he is confident their claim for the overall world record will be ratified. “We’re confident we have enough margin over the previous record and think we’re pretty safe to say it publicly,” he said.
A scene of the Great Dividing Range, looking back to Toolangi, painted on his helmet is an indication of Paul’s strong ties with his home town, and the years he says inspired him to pursue his dream of sailing boats … fast!
“Everything on this little dam in Healesville has been relevant to my sailing career,” he said.
“I wasn’t brought up in the normal yacht club scene; it was just off-cuts from building sites, but the most important stages of my sailing career have simply involved playing with wind and water.
“That learning process was invaluable; I was free to use my imagination, and that’s a powerful thing.”