Kairos Breaks All Sailing Speed Records in Swiftsure 2007

The Kairos rooster tail was reported from the International Space Station as extending over 4 km. Pleasure craft boats reported a three-metre wake as far away as Hawaii. And the NORAD tracking station in Bolder Colorado confirmed what we all know from the Swiftsure website, Kairos achieved a speed of 254.3 knots in the 2007 edition of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race.

So how does an Aerodyne-38 achieve 254.3 knots? We caught up with the Skipper and crew of Kairos when they arrived back in Victoria in the early hours of Sunday morning; we have an exclusive interview with them on their amazing speed record.

We estimate that it took you just 3.5 minutes to travel 15 nautical miles. How did you do that?

“Yeah, it was a little slower than we expected,” said an exhausted and windblown Jewula, “ We were hoping for 3.4589997 minutes. But it was amazing. We had a fantastic start. It was hard to hold her back at the start line. I have to give credit to the crew. Well, the crew and the, erm, nitrous oxide injected mainsail and the new Teflon and graphite asymmetrical spinnaker. I also removed all non-essentials from the boat.”

Jewula implemented some ideas he’d learned from the airlines. He limited the crew personal items to one carry-on of a limited size. No water bottles or other dangerous substances were permitted on the boat. No conveniences. “Things like the galley and the head were removed”, said Jewula, “if the airlines can treat their passengers like cattle, and they still come back. Well, why not try that strategy in the race with my crew?”.

We asked Ron how the crew coped with the speed, as we estimated the crew must have experienced up to 7gs during the initial acceleration from the start line. Jewula noted that there were special precautions he had to take. “We had to wear “G”-suits we purchased from NASA. Windburn protection. We went through a lot of zinc-oxide lotion. Extra strong tethers and lifelines were a must for all crew. I don’t think we lost anybody, did we?”.

Navigating Race Rocks at those speeds was a challenge. “I was worried about the currents”, said Jewula. “I think we lost a few one-hundredths of a second through Race Rocks. You need a motivated crew, with a quick eye and quick reflexes. Actually, you need a very quick eye and impossibly quick reflexes.”

And what does the crew think of the performance of Kairos? Curtis thought that the exact placement of the race numbers had a major impact on the speed. “It’s all in the mainsail trimming”, said Marion. Whereas April’s theory was that it had everything to do with the big black mast. Dennis theorised that it was all in the navigating skills and being at the right end of the start line to catch the wind. Maureen, Rose and Bev each suggested that it was the fresh insight brought by the new people on the boat who had never done Swiftsure before. Geoff wasn’t sure. “I don’t know”, he said “ I slept through it all”.

So what’s next for Kairos? “We’re going to relax and clean up the boat,” said Jewula, “we’ll tweak it a little and get ready for the Van Isle 360. Given these results, we expect to complete the first leg of the Van Isle 360 in 5.685 minutes, give or take a few one hundredths of a second”.

It is understood that the PHRF Officer at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club is reviewing the boat’s rating given these new speed results. We caught up to the PHRF Officer, Ron Jewula who said “ It’s fine. I don’t know what people are worried about. There’s been some ridiculous talk that the rating should be around minus seven-thousand seven-hundred but I don’t agree. I’ve done the math several times and it always comes out to the rating I have now, erm, I mean that Kairos has now.”

Watch for Kairos in the Cadillac Van Isle International Yacht Race starting in Nanaimo on June 16, 2007.

Swiftsure - Kairos Inbound

Update on the Swiftsure website shows that Kairos rounded the mark in
Neah Bay at 8:07pm, in the daylight as the skipper and crew wanted.

Swiftsure - Kairos Outbound

Well, it seems that the transponder on Kairos is not working, so for the
longest time, the Swiftsure tracker had her sitting tight on the start
line. Then magically, she zoomed at 253 knots to a point beyond Race
rocks and south of Sooke, where she has apparently parked, according to
the tracker. So we can only guess where they are (theoretically) based
on the location of other boats in the same division who have working
transponders.

Ready for Swiftsure

Kairos is parked at the Empress Floats, ready for the startof Swiftsure on Saturday.

And now the real Kairos bio

Once upon a time there lived a man called Skipper Ron, who sailed the seven seas in Ockham’s Racer along with a crew of merry men (and women). Now Skipper Ron and his merry men (and women) found themselves in a race around an island. Being a fast boat, Ockham’s Racer was up there with the big boys and now Ron had a problem. You see, Ron noticed all the other boats were bigger. And the bigger boats wouldn’t let little Ockham’s Racer play.

“Get back”, they would say “ you shouldn’t be up here with us, we’re supposed to be faster than you”. But pass them Ockham’s did with a laugh as they left the big boats in their wake.

Over the summer Ron mulled over this problem with his merry men (and women).

“Don’t worry Ron”, said one, “we can make your boat bigger. Why, all we need to do is to get it to grow.”

And so Ron and his merry men (and women) set to work to make the boat grow bigger. First they hauled the boat out of the water and placed it in a huge workshop. Next the merry men (and women) went to work to divert the power from the neighbours to power the grow lights.

For the next year, little of Ron was seen as the boat under went its transformation. The neighbours wondered about their high hydro bills, but never suspected the goings on next door. “Ron seemed such a respectable man; always well dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a red jacket”, said the neighbours.

As the year passed, things started to change on young Ockham’s Racer. First her mast grew and grew and grew. Her hull stretched forward and widened at the hips. Her keel sank down and down and down. And the hull – no longer an ivory white, but a deep mean red.

Ron jumped for joy at the sight of the boat. The merrymen (and women) were equally excited. “Look at the mast, it’s big and black; now there’s no going back” screamed April. No longer little Ockham’s Racer, but now, completely transformed into the mighty Kairos, he with the forward ponytail.

In the dead of night, not to arouse suspicion, Ron and his merry men (and women) hauled Kairos back into the water. And there she sat, looking like a mean racing machine. A big black mast thrusting upward 65 feet and a keel hanging heavy 8 feet below. A beam of 13 feet and enough sails to wrap the baby Ockham’s Racer thrice over. And so Ron and the merry men (and women) rejoiced well into the wee ours of the afternoon by drinking Single Malt scotch and discussing the deeper meaning of the boat’s name – Kairos.

And so that is the true story of how Kairos came to be and why nobody has ever seen nor heard of Ockham’s Racer since. Oh, yes, there are some who swear they’ve seen the boat out there it he dead of night. Ripping along passing Redshift when they least expect, but those are the rambling of disillusioned men (and women) of the sea. Ron himself will tell a tall story of selling Ockham’s and buying a new boat from the mythical east. He’ll tell of sailing the Atlantic, the Bras d’Or lake, the St. Lawrence and of storms so big, waves forced the boat back to port, of taking refuge from hurricane Beryl and of trailering over the mountains to the west. But don’t believe them for they are fairy tales told to amuse over a bottle of scotch. For this is the only and true story of how Kairos came to be. With a big red hull and a tall long slender black mast of 65 feet and enough sails to wrap Ockham’s Racer thrice over.

Once upon a time there lived a man called Skipper Ron, who sailed the seven seas in Kairos, he with the forward ponytail, along with a crew of merry men (and women). And one day they came across a race around an island........