Atlantic voyage: Tufts alum Jackson attempts to break world sailing record in powerful 99-foot boat

    A lifelong passion for sailing led Tufts alum Alex Jackson (LA '88) toward the achievement of a lifetime: breaking the transatlantic sailing speed record.
    A monohull sailing yacht, the boat named "Virgin Money" — originally called "Speedboat" — left New York Oct. 22 in a second attempt to beat the standing transatlantic record of six days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds set by the boat "Mari Cha IV" in 2003.
    Considered one of the most, if not the most, powerful sailboats ever built, Virgin Money is a 99-foot masterpiece originally designed by Jackson and one of the yacht's co-skippers, Mike Sanderson. Sanderson is a world-renowned sailor with the highest sailing accolades under his belt, including the 2006 Rolex World Sailor of the Year award, as well as being the skipper of the record-breaking Mari Cha IV in 2003.
    "I've always been kind of intrigued by [the idea of crossing the Atlantic]," Jackson said. "I spent a lot of time sailing dinghies, and I spent time sailing with Mike Sanderson, who won the last Volvo Ocean Race, so he and I got together and designed the speed boat with Juan [Kouyoumdjian]. We designed what is probably one of the most powerful sailboats ever built."
    After nearly a year and a half of planning and construction, the boat was premiered at the 2008 Newport-Bermuda Race in the Open Class Division in June. Speedboat won the division as well as the "First to Finish" award, crossing the line first with a time of 64 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds. The boat's power was undeniable.
    "It's pretty insane — it's pretty rad," said Philip Weirheim, the boat's mainsail trimmer who had sailed with Jackson previously in the Swan 42 class and was eventually called on by Jackson as an experienced, trustworthy crew for the Speedboat. "Nothing I've ever been on has been that powerful. The boat is just an insane boat. In four knots of breeze we're going at 12 knots of boat speed. It's like a super laser on steroids."
    "The thing that made it doable was working with Mike and Juan," Jackson said. "They're the only two people in the world with the knowledge of how to control a boat that powerful. To actually physically sail the boat requires a lot of expertise."
    While Jackson credits much of his crew as world-class sailors, he himself was an All-American honoree while sailing at Tufts.
    "Tufts was great," Jackson said. "I spent a lot of time sailing, [and] it was a central part of what I did when I was there. After I left, I stopped sailing as much because of work. Tufts was where I reached the pinnacle of my expertise … The sailing team at Tufts is of a very high caliber, and it was a very motivating activity."
    After the Newport Bermuda Race, the next step for the boat was breaking the transatlantic record. But the craft's first attempt later that summer was spoiled when the daggerboard broke early on. For the next few months, Jackson and crew revamped the boat and waited for the right time to launch a second attempt. Unfortunately for Virgin Money, as the sailboat was now called, the harsh conditions during the second attempt two weeks ago caused the boat to once again fail within the first day of sailing.
    "We knew that the first day was going to be the roughest," Jackson said. "We made one attempt very early in the summer and then we were waiting to find the perfect opportunity, but that never came along. We saw an opportunity last week … so we left and it was pretty rough to begin with, but we always started off with the idea that we had a really good shot at breaking the record.
    But the group soon ran into problems; for one, the sails ripped as the boat took a beating from the constant pounding of the Atlantic's waves.
    "We thought we were going to be very conservative the first day by reefing the sails," Jackson said. "Unfortunately in the process of raising the sails they got damaged and so that was really the big problem. The small holes turned into big holes and that made the sails unusable. Little things can really screw you up."
    "The highlight was just the sheer power of the boat and trying to make the record, leaving the dock and going balls out full on trying to go as fast as possible," Weirheim said. "The low point would be the unfortunate wind angle that we had because we weren't able to use the boat to its full potential. The wind went so far forward, and we were hitting waves every 10 feet."
    During the process of preparing for the second, more recent attempt to break the record, Jackson and company caught the attention of Virgin Group owner and billionaire Richard Branson. Branson, who is notorious for seeking out record-breaking adventures, became a co-skipper of the boat and changed its name and logo.
    Like Branson, Jackson and the rest of the crew, Weirheim is disappointed with the result of the most recent attempt but said the boat will be ready for another attempt soon enough.
    "It was just a wicked experience and it abruptly came to an end when the high pressure system caught us," Weirheim said. "I'd just like to thank Alex for giving me the opportunity to sit on the boat. We look forward to sailing on it and showing everyone what we can do and the records we can break."