The filters would cope until they became blocked and the engines would stop. Principato. The Virgin Atlantic Challenger II crew reunites to recall their Branson had unfurled a six-foot blue pennant to mark the achievement, and announced we are throwing down the gauntlet for anyone else to make a transatlantic challenge and beat it,[2] but the AMMM later derided his achievement, referring to Challenger as a little toy boat. Sir Richard was denied the official Blue Riband trophy because he had stopped to refuel and his vessel did not have a commercial maritime purpose. "There's a difference between the marketing and the engineering sides of the company", Mr. Moses said on November 10, 2014. ", 1986: Branson beats Atlantic speed record, The best place to live in Plymouth revealed - as voted for by you, Working to find housing solutions for local people - David Worden, Honiton jobs: 10 full and part-time positions in the town right now, including at Homebase and Coffee#1, Why your Wetherspoon pints have exactly that much head, Plymouth Argyle fan banned from matches and fined for assaulting steward at Home Park, Devastating suicide of Paignton dad who helped others battle mental health, Alex Murdaugh jailed for life for double murder, Why the disgraced lawyer was spared death penalty, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping is unveiling a new deputy - why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. performance at the world's highest mine. Dan Stevens restored the 72ft (22m) boat at his Plymouth boatyard after he spotted it languishing on the Mediterranean island. His first attempt was in 1985, setting sail from New York aboard Challenger I, but the vessel sank just 120 miles from the finish line at the Bishops Rock lighthouse. Sir Richard, who revisited the restored boat in 2013, tweeted: "My old record-breaking boat, Virgin Atlantic Challenger II is up for sale. The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. Currently lying in the UK with delivery available globally, the 55knot icon was refitted in 2013 with only 930 engine hours since build. ", "Pilot dies as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo lost during test flight", "Branson on Virgin Galactic crash: 'Space is hard -- but worth it', "Problems Plagued Virgin Galactic Rocket Ship Long Before Crash: Richard Branson's Projections on Launch Ran Counter to Technical Capabilities", "Virgin Galactic crash: Spaceflight company warned of safety issues, expert claims", "Branson spaceship explosion: The 'missed' warnings", "Virgin Was Allegedly Warned By Expert About 'Unpredictable' New Fuel", CSB public hearing-comment Open OSHA-EPA unacceptable Response to standards which should include N20 Handling-Storage of Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites 15,000 + Lbs. The 1986 Transatlantic record breaker is for sale, in full commission, charter ready and coded for 12. Thats fine for most people, but if youre the kind of boater who favours potency over posturing, you might want to take a look at a boat thats currently for sale down in Plymouth. Acting Chairman Christopher Hart's first briefing on crash of Space Ship Two in Mojave, Calif. new, more powerful and steadier-thrust hybrid rocket engine, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents, "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Crashes in New Setback for Commercial Spaceflight", "National Transportation Safety Board Aerospace Accident Report In-Flight Breakup During Test Flight Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo, N339SS Near Koehn Dry Lake, California October 31, 2014", "Pilot killed in spaceship crash identified", "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane crashes", "SpaceShipTwo Rocket Plane Debris Spread Over 35 Miles, NTSB Says - NBC News", "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes during test flight", "Crashed Virgin Spacecraft Descent Function Deployed Early", "Investigators Focus on Tail Booms in Crash of Space Plane", "Spaceship's descent device deployed prematurely", "SpaceShipTwo 'Feather' Tail System Deployed Prematurely: NTSB - NBC News", "Virgin Galactic descent system activated early, investigators say", "Crash Analysis: How SpaceShipTwo's Feathered Tails Work", "SpaceShipTwo Probe Focuses On Human Factors, Test Procedures", "Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Crashes, Killing One", "Rocket plane's tail activated prematurely in fatal crash", "Pilot Who Survived Space Crash Says Parachute Opened Itself", "One dead in Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo test crash", "Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Form Spacecraft Building Company", "Virgin Galactic was reportedly too aggressive with commercial launch timeline", "Problems Plagued Virgin Galactic Rocket Ship Long Before Crash", "Virgin Galactic Breaks Speed of Sound in First Rocket-Powered Flight of SpaceShipTwo", "Virgin Galactic rolls out 'Unity,' the second SpaceShipTwo", "NTSB Launches Go-Team to Investigate Virgin Galactic Test Flight Crash", "Virgin Galactic crash: Inquiry team lands in Mojave", "SpaceShipTwo 'Feather' Tail System Deployed Prematurely", "Virgin Galactic crash: SpaceShipTwo probe 'may take year', "Investigators Cite Inadequate Design Safeguards in SpaceShip Two Crash: NTSB staff questions if pilots fully aware of flight hazards", "Pilot Training Fell Short in Virgin Galactic Crash, Investigators Say", "Lack of Consideration for Human Factors Led to In-Flight Breakup of SpaceShipTwo", "Deadly SpaceShipTwo Crash Caused by Co-Pilot Error: NTSB", "NTSB: Co-pilot of spaceship unlocked braking system early", "Will Virgin SpaceShipTwo crash set back space tourism? The attempt had met with some opposition, however. She still looks and sounds the same. He was the navigator on the memorable journey across the Atlantic. Up to that moment the engines had run without missing a beat. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. [15] In 1986, theVirgin Atlantic Challenger IIcrossed the Atlantic in three days, eight hours and 27 minutes. Mr Stevens said he had spent about 400,000 restoring the boat after buying it for a "couple of hundred thousand pounds". Virgin Atlantic Challenger II restored - boats.com Mike Our PowerBoat team brings you the news, views and reviews from around the world. MTU V12 396 TB 93 diesel engines, succeeded in doing what her namesake almost did last year.She beat the transatlantic speed record set in 1952 by the liner United States. About eleven seconds later, the space plane violently broke apart,[7] substantially giving the appearance of an explosion, and creating a 35-mile-long (55-kilometer) debris field. They were started again and then stopped once more. Richard Branson's boat Virgin Atlantic Challenger II sold after being The system was unlocked by Michael Alsbury, but the feathering control was not moved, indicating an uncommanded feathering as "that action alone should not have been enough to pivot the tails upright" according to the NTSB. The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. They were picked up by a passing ship and have been airlifted to hospital. boats.com, Office 31, Pure Offices, Port View, One Port Way, Port Solent, Hampshire, PO6 4TY. 2022 | All Rights Reserved By Powerboat Magazine, IMTRA INTRODUCES SLEIPNER eVISION THRUSTERS. Virgin Atlantic has its origins in a joint endeavour by Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, and Alan Hellary, a former chief pilot for British private airline Laker Airways. "She has a nice feeling about her and she's more than capable of 45 knots," he said. The Board also found that the Scaled Composites unit of Northrop Grumman, which designed and flew the prototype space tourism vehicle, did not properly prepare for potential human slip-ups by providing a fail-safe system that could have guarded against such premature deployment. They had no choice. The landing on 3 July, however, was much more problematic. Now lying in Plymouth, the restored Virgin Atlantic Challenger II can be yours for 725,000. The first boat had struck an obstacle and sunk in 1985, just a year later he had his record, crossing the Ocean in just 3 days and 10 hours. [38] The NTSB investigators also found just one email, from 2010, and one presentation slide, from 2011, that even mentioned the risks of unlocking before completing the transonic stage of the acceleration. I'm just really happy that I was able to save such an iconic boat.". Atlantic record: Three days, eight hours and 31 minutes. The only option was to keep going but with a 10 hour delay the chances of the record were minimal. After surviving rough weather and the threat of late icebergs Challenger was fatally damaged by striking a submerged object 100 miles from Bishops Rock, the intended finishing line, and sank in heavy seas. Daly's concerns centered around the use of nitrous oxide in the hybrid propulsion system;[48][49] the final NTSB report indicates that the propulsion system did not contribute to the breakup of the vehicle. The VSS Enterprise crash occurred on October 31, 2014, when the VSS Enterprise, a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic, suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil, California. "It is not about the money, it's about finding someone who is sensitive about the boat. ''We took such a battering for at least 2,500 miles, and to get within just over 100 miles and for this to happen is such a tragedy. Rolls-Royce plc 2023. Even now I can still feel the pain. The future of shipping is green. But instead of being showcased, the famous racing boat ended up in a shipyard on the Balearic Island of Majorca where it was found by British boating enthusiast Dan Stevens and restored to former glory. Together with the record breaking crew, he presented the boat to the public during the summer. They should stay out of the space business. How to combine best performance, lower CAPEX and optimized OPEX at high altitudes. Can you handle twin 2,000hp turbo diesels? The combination "could have increased the co-pilot's stress." Here we were after 3,000 miles of punishing ocean, racing towards the rocks of the Isles of Scilly at 50 knots and we were virtually blind. Both were eventually rescued from the freezing water by the Royal Navy. It remained almost in its original condition and at that time the engines had around 700 hours of running. Powerboat Sinks Just Hours From Breaking Atlantic Speed Record ''It was something hard - they still don't know what it was,'' said Mr. Powell. However, the weather had other plans. The contest was unofficial, involving no set rules or tangible award, and was undertaken for the prestige the accolade brought. After negotiating thick fog and the icebergs off the Newfoundland coast we made our second refueling stop on the Grand Banks. Coming up behind us was a huge storm that we would have to face if we headed back. "[11], The incident resulted in the first fatality on a spacecraft in flight since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. They went through the emergency drill they had rehearsed and got out calmly into their dinghies and waited to be picked up.''. I could have wept. Picture a 72 foot boat powering along in the pitch blacknight and every now and then flying completely out of the water as a bigger wave than average came along. I have been saying for some years now this was an accident waiting to happen. '', ''We won't be beaten,'' Mr. Branson said. She struggled through six-foot seas overnight, but by this morning she was averaging 40 knots, her crew hoping to sight the Isles of Scilly by 8:30 P.M. She had to reach the finish line by 10:24 P.M. to win the blue ribbon. Ecki Rastig remembered that the mtus were running at 20% overload for the record run. Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director of the IAASS, claimed that Virgin Galactic had refused to let IAASS scientists review its procedures and snubbed industry gatherings. What kind of boat could you get for 725,000? So in summer 1986 we were ready to try again - with theVirgin Atlantic Challenger II. I never knew a boat and its engines could take so much punishment and still keep going. 3 events found on Virgin Atlantic Challenger 2's timeline. Take a look back at Richard Branson's 1986 attempt to cross the Atlantic in record time aboard Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. Branson's first attempt on the record, in 65ft twin-hull Virgin Atlantic Challenger, departed New York in June 1985. Make sure youre using the most recent version of your browser, or try using one of these supported browsers, to get the full mtu Solutions experience. For the mtu Report, he recalls this comeback and the record breaking crossing. The mtus would run intermittently, stopping perhaps every half hour as more water still came through the system but worse still, we were running out of fuel filters. For the 21st century billionaire, space travel is what buying a professional sports team was for the rich boys of an earlier era: the biggest, coolest, most impressive toy imaginable. But the next year, Sir Richard in Challenger II beat the record by two hours in a time of three days, eight hours and 31 minutes. Read the archives of the NY Times for more. Further investigation showed that we had taken 4 tons of fuel on board and 8 tons of water during our refueling and it was the water that was getting to the engines. Alsbury was killed in the crash. Here are just some of Richard Branson's near-death experiences - CNN Last year, the 64 aluminum catamaran Virgin Atlantic Challenger, powered by similar . Motor yacht Virgin Atlantic Challenger 2 - Brookes - Yacht Harbour The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. One of the crew members was Dag Pike. In 1935 British businessman Harold Hales created the Hales Trophy. The average water temperature in these southernmost U.S. waters is a lovely 28 degrees Celsius. After surviving rough weather and the threat of late icebergs Challenger was fatally damaged by striking a submerged object 100 miles from Bishops Rock, the intended finishing line, and sank in heavy seas. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Siebold was not wearing a pressure suit. After the record attempt she was taken to the Mediterranean where she was sold to Prince Rashid of Saudi Arabia. Ultrasonically tested, fully surveyed and with a range of 1,200 miles at 40 knots, the 2017 season sees her as the official Cowes Torquay Cowes start boat, the Falmouth-Sicilly Race official start boat and the Sonni Levi Tribute weekend attraction. Posted on October 30, 2013 by Dag Pike, Images by Dag Pike, Owen Billcliffe, mtu Corporate Archive. Nearly everything on board looked just the same. Principato. Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia Now they are back to normal tune so the top speed has dropped to 45 knots. As for me, I could not believe how small the boat looked. [15][16] The feathering system had been deliberately deployed at supersonic speeds during earlier powered flight tests of SS2, but previous activation either occurred in thinner air at higher altitudes, or at much lower speeds than the flight on October 31. In 1986. a second attempt by Branson, in Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, set a new speed record, but the American Merchant Marine Museum refused to surrender the Hales Trophy, claiming Challenger was not a commercial passenger ship. 1986 - Crashed a car while. But then, 130 miles from the finish line in England, theVirgin Atlantic Challengersank. That was the longest night I have ever spent at sea and all you could do was live for the next wave and not think any further ahead.. The Randolph is an extremely effective firefighting tool. [37] Aerodynamic forces when accelerating through the transonic moments of the flight, above Mach 0.85 and below Mach 1.34, push upwards on the tail; releasing the locks before the vehicle passes these speeds means that a pair of actuators were the only things keeping the tail in place against these powerful forces, which had unintentionally been sufficient on earlier test flights.[38]. [33], During a hearing in Washington D.C. on July 28, 2015,[34][35] and a press release on the same day,[36] the NTSB cited inadequate design safeguards, poor pilot training, lack of rigorous federal oversight and a potentially anxious co-pilot without recent flight experience as important factors in the 2014 crash. [50], In an editorial in Time magazine on October 31, 2014, Jeffrey Kluger concluded, "A fatal accident in the Mojave Desert is a lesson in the perils of space hubris. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? "Many of the safety issues that we will hear about today arose not from the novelty of a space launch test flight, but from human factors that were already known elsewhere in transportation." When the Atlantic Challenger reached her first refueling stop, an oil rig off Halifax, Nova Scotia, 500 miles from New York City, it was ahead of schedule. ", The report's details of the final moments of the flight reveal that the feather system was unlocked as SS2 accelerated under rocket power through Mach 0.92 at 10.07:28, 9 seconds after release from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft and 14 seconds before the vehicle would have reached Mach 1.4, the minimum speed at which the tail was designed to be unlocked. Find your Hybrid Solution that meets your individual needs. FacebookTwitterYouTubeInstagramLinkedInSnapchatPinterestTiktok, Registered Office: Ground Floor, The Rookery, 2 Dyott Street, London, WC1A 1DE, United Kingdom. The board found that during years of development and flight tests, engineers at Scaled Composites assumed that any pilot mistakes would occur only in reaction to systems failures, not as the cause of such failures. At a test of the new fuel earlier in 2013, "an explosion all but obliterated the test stand", according to the Journal's sources. Nearly 250,000 Detroit Diesel 2-Cycle engines are still going strong all over the world. The SS United States' hold on the trophy was not broken until 1990, when the 243ft (74m) catamaran Hoverspeed Great Britain completed the crossing with an average speed of 36.65 knots. ''But the Atlantic Challenger filled with water very quickly. "[47], Geoff Daly wrote to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board in July 2013 describing his safety concerns over SpaceShipTwo. Telemetry, in-cockpit video and audio data confirmed that co-pilot Michael Alsbury announced "unlocking" as Mach 0.92 was passed and vehicle breakup occurred within the next 4 seconds. But instead of being showcased, the famous racing boat ended up in a shipyard on the Balearic Island of Majorca where it was found by British boating enthusiast Dan Stevens and restored to former glory. Thereafter the competition lapsed due to the rapid rise of transatlantic air travel, and United States herself was laid up in 1969. On Wednesday afternoon, the Atlantic Challenger radioed she was running out of fuel after a tank had split and 300 gallons of fuel had escaped. Having set the record, they took off again to avoid nearby power cables, eventually ditching the out-of-control Flyer in the Irish Sea. [29], The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the accident. Nowthat same crew boarded the boat in Plymouth for a trip down memory lane. what medications become toxic after expiration; virgin atlantic challenger 1 wreck; 29 Jun 22; sherelle jacobs parents; virgin atlantic challenger 1 wreckprivate school headmaster salaries Category: . mtu is proud to continue providing expert support. Virgin Atlantic - Wikipedia In 1986, we were a six man crew onVirgin Atlantic Challenger IIwith Richard Branson heading up the team. used grapple trailers for sale; taco bell uniform australia. "One hour into the flight I thought 'This is it! Anyone can read what you share. [31], At a news conference on November 2, NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart said the lockunlock lever for the vehicle's feathering mechanism was moved to the unlocked position at slightly above Mach1. "So you make the mistakeyou have a catastrophe. To use this service, you must give us your consent for the relevant cookie. The attempt began three days ago in New York. [32] The on-site investigation was scheduled to take four to seven days. Weekly quiz: Which house are Harry and Meghan vacating? Branson thought that breaking the Atlantic record would be an effective global advertising campaign for his company. Free shipping for many products! The record-breaking powerboat that made Sir Richard Branson a household name is being sold for 725,000 after it was discovered rotting in a Spanish boatyard. With some more work we had the boat up and running and as before it took just a couple of cranks of the engines before they fired up. The boat ran like clockwork on the 2,000 mile voyage back to the UK and this is where we arranged the reunion for the original crew. In its submission to the NTSB, Virgin Galactic says the second SS2, nearing completion, had been modified with an automatic mechanical inhibit device to prevent locking or unlocking of the feather during safety-critical phases. 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. We will build another boat and try again.''. Thanks to the weather He released the straps and his parachute later deployed automatically. Along with Mr. Toleman, a former European and British powerboat champion, the crew included Richard Branson, the millionaire chairman of Virgin Records and co-sponsor of the project; Chay Blyth, a round-the-world yachtsman who has rowed the Atlantic, and Dag Pike, one of the world's foremost navigators of offshore powerboats. "It's great to bring her back into British waters. With fog reported in Scotland, their intended destination, they ended up grounding the balloon in Limavady, Northern Ireland, after 31 hr 41 min of flying time. [24] It was the first of the five SpaceShipTwo craft planned by Virgin Galactic. Then just a couple of miles away right on track the lighthouse was visible. Alongside were Steve Ridgway who is now the MD of the airline and yachtsman Chay Blyth. [7] Gentry was met at St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, by Branson and warmly congratulated; he subsequently received the trophy to mark his achievement. Challenger II was sold in the late 1980s, reportedly to a sultan and later to an English owner, and spent about seven years moored in Majorca until Mr Stevens bought her. Any moment now the lighthouse would show up and we could power over the finish line. We Now Know More About What Caused the Virgin Atlantic Crash We are looking at all of these issues to determine what was the root cause of this mishap We are looking at a number of possibilities, including that possibility (of pilot error). of Fuel (N2O) in Mojave and New Mexico Spaceports, "CBC.ca - Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV", "Mojave Jobs: Virgin Galactic Needs a Vice President of Safety", NTSB Investigates Virgin Galactic Test Flight Crash, Report discussing how Peter Siebold escaped from, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VSS_Enterprise_crash&oldid=1142566031, Aviation accidents and incidents in California, Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2014, Space accidents and incidents in the United States, Aviation accidents and incidents caused by pilot error, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the National Transportation Safety Board, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 04:02. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. There are limited seats available on board for this ride of a lifetime costing 1,700 each for her delivery and return trips, which is estimated at 6 hours on board the most iconic speedboat of them all.. full guided engine room tour and a unique experience that only a very few have ever savored. That same year American businessman Tom Gentry made an attempt in his 110ft powerboat Gentry Eagle, (which cost $7 million in 1988[4] ($14million in 2021 dollars[5]) and was fitted with twin 3,480 hp MTU V396 TB94s turbocharged marine diesel engines, in addition to a single 4,500-horsepower Textron Lycoming TF40 marine turbine engine for a total of 11,500 horsepower)[6] but she was damaged by heavy seas off Newfoundland and forced to turn back. Its two 2,000HP engines engines needed fettling, its paintwork was tatty and the hydraulics, crucial for controlling the boat at its top speed of 45 knots, needed repairing. [28], A second SS2 vehicle, VSS Unity, was rolled out in February 2016. The $2.1 million Atlantic Challenger, a 65-foot-long twin-hulled vessel with two 2,000-horsepower engines, was reported still floating, submerged and bow-up, 138 miles from the finish line at the Bishop Rock Lighthouse in the Isles of Scilly, where champagne and the relatives of the crew were waiting. The first manned hot-air balloon flight was made over 9 km (5.6 mi) and lasted 25 min, but the first chapter of aeronautical history had been written. Peter Bohanna, a member of the Atlantic Challenger team in London, said that solid objects, often hidden beneath the waves, are not unusual in the Atlantic. Siebold survived with serious injuries and was transported to Antelope Valley Hospital in nearby Lancaster. This will include call-outs and a challenge/response protocol. For more information, please read our Cookie Policy. [5][6], According to the NTSB briefing, SpaceShipTwo (SS2) dropped from the mother ship as planned and fired its new hybrid rocket engine normally. He declined to say how much the restoration cost, but he believes the boat is good for more record breaking. The crew of Virgin Atlantic Challenger II reunites, 27 years after breaking the speed record for crossing the Atlantic. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The Virgin Atlantic Challenger, a powerboat trying to beat the trans-Atlantic speed record of a liner, filled with water and sank just below the surface in stormy weather today only hours from the British lighthouse that marked the end of her 2,850-mile course. "[44][45] Sgobba, the former head of flight safety for the European Space Agency, said on November 6, 2014, that industry best practice called for operators to build in "two-failure tolerance", or sufficient safeguards to survive two separate, unrelated failurestwo human errors, two mechanical errors or one of each. Choosing a boat: which boat is right for me? While admitting he loved to "achieve things that haven't been achieved before", Branson also had one eye on his business ventures and was eager for his fledgling Virgin Atlantic airline to provide some competition for British Airways. It passed to the owners of several express liners, though not to Cunard, owner of the record-breaking Queen Mary, and was won in 1952 by the American Lines liner United States. 35 years after smashing the Atlantic speed record Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, continues to be seen on the waters of South West England. Currently lying in the UK with delivery available globally, the 55knot icon was refitted in 2013 with only 930 engine hours since build. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Man's compulsion to fly was realized on 21 November 1783, when two French aviators rose 3,000 ft (914 m) above Paris in a balloon invented by the Montgolfier brothers. [25] Since October 2010, VSS Enterprise had flown 20 captive flights while remaining attached to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, 31 unpowered glide-to-landing tests, and three rocket-powered test flights. Suddenly it would go quiet as the engines automatically cut out and you knew that there was going to be the most almighty crash when the boat re-entered the water. Earlier they moored up in Fowey, Cornwall, reuniting crew members from the 1986 and their famous backer, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson. [8] Witnesses reported seeing a parachute before the aircraft crashed. We ran the boat as far as Palma where we intended to carry out a full refit but unfortunately Marshall Rice died of cancer and the project came to a halt. Richard Branson's parents and sister, Chay Blyth's wife and relatives of the other crew members had gathered there in anticipation of their triumph.