Macquarie Innovation crashes

Australia speed record attempts shelved for the rest of this season reports Tim Daddo

After nearly three months of patient waiting for our desired conditions, a very brief window opened up for us on Monday night. Conditions were pretty close to those that we have been waiting for and the entire team were looking forward to some pretty spectacular sailing. And spectacular it was, although sadly, not for the reasons for which we had hoped.

At 7:50pm on Monday night, Macquarie Innovation was half way through a record attempt run in 18-20 knot winds, when the craft suddenly and inexplicably veered off course and capsized. Both crew members were unhurt, although spent some time extracting themselves from the debris that used to be their crew pod.

Unfortunately, damage to the craft has been extensive and not repairable within the time frame of our allotted 2004 attempt period. Consequently, the team has been left with no choice other than to retire from this year's quest. We are obviously very disappointed over the outcome as we are convinced that we have the capacity to post a 50 knot run. We are currently in the process of investigating the cause of the accident, but are still very focussed and dedicated to returning the World Record to Australian shores as well as being the first boat in history to sail faster than 50 knots.

While, the incident has been a setback to our program, the results obtained this year, albeit in light weather, further reinforced that we are well on the way to our ultimate goal. Indeed, we were reminded of the fact that in February of 1993, our previous craft Yellow Pages Endeavour was wrecked in a high speed crash, but went on to post a new World Record only 8 months later - a record that stood for over 11 years. We are very determined to show our potential to the world.

More news will follow as our future plans are formulated.

Kind regards,

Tim Daddo