Ending the Year on a High!

Wooaaahhhh what a year it's been for Invictus! It's not been a smooth ride by any stretch of imagination! But we managed to finish 2009 on a high... Just what we needed! Despite the weather playing up and messing with our minds, patience paid off and we managed to get one last sail out of Cardiff Yacht Club in 2009. It was a long day with a few last adjustment to complete on the wing before we can make it onto the water. It had been several month since we last went sailing due to our flap breakages and the lack of facilities to repair. So with the wind coming from behind the club house and shifting through 20deg every other minute, nerves were tense when it came time to raise the wing.

But we made it in the end and it was well worth it. We had only a couple of hours on the water due to the early winter sunset and the wind was slightly higher than we would have liked for a shake down, starting around 12 to 14kts but then pushing into the high teens later on. We didn't want to push the wing as we were uncertain on the flap strength after repair. We limited camber to a minimum in the gusty conditions. Nonetheless we managed some decent boat speed and a lot of hull flying. As you can see on the pictures (hopefully you can see more very soon in our gallery and a few videos on YouTube). The new control horns are validated and the flap system behaved as we wanted. We ended up the day packing in the dark in the muddy fields of Cardiff Yacht club. Not the most pleasant thing but we still had big grins on our faces, as if Christmas at turned up a few weeks early!!!

Looking back at 2009, I'd say it's been a hard but important year for the team. We have learnt a lot, we have clocked more sailing time (though not as much as we would have liked) and we have gathered a bit more pace. All the hard work of the past few years is starting to pay off. We now have a decent boat we can work from. We also finish 2009 with an agreement with Airbus for some more funding and a first step towards securing a new workshop. That's really motivating for all of us.

So what now? Well everyone is disappearing for Christmas but the work doesn't stop. The next few months are going to be busy as we hope to bring a number of upgrades to the wing during the winter season, ready for some more testing and development as soon as the weather permits it. This includes some mods to the control system in the lower part of the wing, a brand new, stronger, lower flap and a brand new element 2. There are a few other ideas the team is working on but we'll talk about these later.

All is left for me is to thank everyone who has been involved or has helped in any way. Your support has been invaluable to us and it helped us get this far. And if like them you want to get involved or help out, get in touch. Spread the word around you!

A special thanks to Paul and Helena our friends from Vesta Sailrocket who, despite their workload, have given every bit of support they could afford. You guys are a tremendous inspiration to the team!

I wish you all a good Christmas. And keep an eye on our website to find out the latest! We'll keep you all posted as to where and when we are planning to sail next. Hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Juls.