Serious business of breaking records

Norfolk wants the world speed sailing record back.

Thirteen years after the title of world's fastest was finally wrested from the county's Lord Lieutenant, Sir Timothy Colman and the crew of the Crossbow yachts, another Norfolk team with leading local companies and top business brains on board is poised to take on the world.

The time, as they say, is right for the Brancaster-based Unlimited Speedsailing Company.
Richard Noble's and Sqn Ldr Andy Green's jet car achievement has caught the nation's imagination.
Soon it will be the turn of a massive 72ft high, 60ft long state-of-the-art catamaran called Bootiful to fill our screens.

The project has taken giant strides towards its goal in the past 4 years - and the key has been business backing. If all goes according to plan Bootiful, complete with the Bernard Matthews logo and the names of other leading companies, should be fizzing across the water off Thornham beach in the next few months.
The belief is that she can race past the 46.52-knot record held by the Australians since 1993.

Designer Simon Sanderson, fellow crewman and business partner Tom Marriott and their supporters have most of the pieces in place, all built around the "tremendous" long-standing support and faith of their main benefactor Bernard Matthews.

For Bernard Matthews, whose belief got the project off the drawing board, the benefits are unquantifiable.
But he saw merit in the challenge when he first heard of designer Simon Sanderson's plans in 1994.

"The Bernard Matthews board agreed that, although speculative, there would probably be beneficial results both for the company but also Norfolk," said Mr Matthews.

Mr Matthews said he hoped the boat's name would raise awareness of the company name, but he was also realistic about the risks.

"There are no guarantees that the record will be achieved, success being the major requirement to gain maximum commercial benefit. If it were that simple to achieve then there would be little challenge!"

Tom Marriott said Clifford Nye's hands-on involvement brought another dimension to the project.
"As well as his financial support he brings his wisdom and energy. The only way we were going to achieve our aims was to operate on a totally business level and now we have such key company names and such successful individuals behind us all the pieces of the puzzle are locking together."
Mr Nye said he was certain they would succeed and put Norfolk on the map.
"This is the pinnacle of sailing achievement, the 100-metre sprint of athletics. At the moment it is hard to comprehend the nature of the beast, but when the hulls emerge and the mast goes up people will gasp."

He said he found the project irresistible. "I had just sold an American business and I was in a very dangerous mood - I was bored. I am an achiever and I just had to be involved in what is a well-planned, extraordinary Norfolk challenge."

For Simon and Tom the tough months in the workshop and office are almost over. They, and the companies and individuals lining up behind them, are determined to show that Norfolk is anything but a backwater.

Bootiful is not designed to be a one-hit wonder. Other speed targets include the 24-hour record as well as the commercial spin-offs of her unique design

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