>From  this mornings's "Daily Mail", quoted without permission.
It's probably covered in more depth by the "Quality" press, but
this is all I've got...

Sailing Speed Record Smashed by Crazy Scot

[picture of the small, battered, window-less craft omitted]

Scottish Inventor Angus John claims to have smashed the world
speedsailing record in his home made boat, the "Spiral Rift".
John's craft bears little resemblance to a conventional boat,
being described by the designer as "merely a survival pod".
It is a bullet-shaped steel cask, packed with padding to protect the
pilot during the run.  To power the attempt, John used a large
soft kite, similar in design to a parachute, flying on several
miles of a special Nylon known as "Spectra", which is claimed to be
stronger than Steel.  John bolted his small capsule to the deck of 
trawler and used the ship's winches to coax the kite higher and higher
to reach into the Jet-Stream.  As the kite hit the high-altitude wind,
the strain grew more quickly than expected and rather than the planned
controlled release, the capsule simply ripped it's fittings from the
deck of the ship and shot across the water.  Unfortuately, this destroyed
part of the timing system, so an official speed was not recorded, but
the crew estimates indicate speeds of over 150mph as it skipped across
the surface, only occasionaly making contact with a wave-top.  John
is currently recovering from his ordeal in Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Andrew
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