22 September 2005

Pete Goss returns to the Maritime Museum in Falmouth on Wednesday 19 October 2005 for a third and final lecture about his incredible Team Philips project. This is the last opportunity to listen to the inspirational and charismatic speaker that has already given two sell-out talks to a captivated audience.

A tired Pete Goss December 2000 said 

the vessel was "quite fantastic"

Pete Goss first caught the public imagination with his dramatic rescue of French sailor Raphael Dinelli in the 1996 Vendee Globe. All year, the Museum has been featuring a fascinating exhibition about his last adventure, Team Philips, and Pete will be inspiring others to 'dare to dream' with his talk on this epic West Country project.

Team Philips was built to be the biggest, fastest and most hi-tech of boats. With wave-piercing bow technology she was specifically designed for The Race - a no-holds barred, no limits, round the world challenge. A global community was drawn together in support of this extraordinary project; 97 million people visited the website, 1.2 million people passed through the visitor centre and 9,212 people signed up to become individual sponsors.

Reflecting on Team Philips Pete said: "Progress is about change and development; by definition, attitudes will always follow one step behind. By accepting the risks we chose to drive in the fast lane. Defeat, however, sometimes has to be accepted. As a team we can look the project in the eye knowing that we gave it our all. We dared to dream and we are proud of what we achieved."

2005 to See Team Philips Exhibit - September 07, 2004

National Maritime Museum Cornwall is delighted to announce that its major exhibition for 2005 will be a celebration of Team Philips.

Team Philips was the dream of one man, Pete Goss, who inspired millions. Pete and his team developed the revolutionary catamaran that was Team Philips. A 120ft long, 70ft wide (larger than the centre court at Wimbledon) and 135ft high (taller than ten Double Decker buses) catamaran that owed more to aerospace than boat building. The team, the boat and their combined spirit, entered the hearts, minds and emotions of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Now the Maritime Museum is developing a dedicated exhibition celebrating this West Country epic project.

Team Phillips at sea

Team Philips was built to be the biggest, fastest and most high-tech of boats. With wave piercing bow technology she was a sailing spaceship in carbon fibre, and was specifically designed for The Race – a no-holds barred, no limits, round the world challenge.

In December 2000, on the passage to the start of The Race in Barcelona, Team Philips had to be abandoned in freak weather. 70 knot winds, 10m waves and worsening weather conditions, left Pete and his crew no choice but to abandon Team Philips or risk their lives.

40ft of the original 120ft starboard hull was salvaged off Iceland. Carrying thousands of names of individual supporters it will form the centre piece of the exhibition. The museum has been working with Pete collecting objects, photographs, equipment and other memorabilia which will all play a central role in this exciting exhibition.

Pete Goss comments: “I wanted to preserve the ‘spirit’ of Team Philips and the Museum is the perfect setting. Some might say the project was a failure, so why celebrate it? But, you can’t measure success just by winning, it can be measured in so many ways and I know Team Philips inspired others to go the extra distance, to overcome their fears and to tackle their own challenges. Granny Barney, for example, who at 60 walked the south coast of England to raise £10,000 for her church and Team Philips, is a prime example of the drive and determination that can make anything possible – and that’s why we called the galley after her.”

Pete continues: “Progress is about change and development; by definition, attitudes will always follow one step behind. By accepting the risks we chose to drive in the fast lane. Defeat, however, sometimes has to be accepted. As a team we can look the project in the eye knowing that we gave it our all. We dared to dream and we are proud of what we achieved and I am over the moon that the museum will be telling this story.”

The support for the project was enormous, with 1.2m visitors passing through the visitor centre in Totnes and a further 97m hits on the website. Team Philips is the story of an entire community; how an amazing group of people pulled together for the adventure of a new millennium and a celebration of that achievement.

News UK  Friday, 17 August, 2001

Wreckage of superyacht found

Part of the Team Philips catamaran abandoned in stormy Atlantic seas has been discovered 90 miles west of the Shetland Islands. A salvage operation is now underway to recover a section of the yacht which skipper Peter Goss and his crew were forced to abandon last December.

Coastguards spokesman Mark Clark

Coastguards said a survey vessel working in the Foinaven oil and gas fields spotted the wreck. They believe the wreck is a substantial part of the revolutionary carbon fibre super yacht.

Recovery underway

A joint operation by recovery crews from Britain and the Faroe Islands is under way, according to British Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Mark Clark.

The survey vessel GEO Pacific, which spotted the wreck, has pulled up alongside it, awaiting assistance. A Faroe Islands coastguard vessel, the Brimil, is due to arrive by midnight to tow the catamaran back to Thorshavn in the Faroe Islands, Mr Clark said.

"The survey crew spotted the debris and it was clear from markings and the colour that this was a large section of Pete Goss's catamaran. "We want it out the way because if it is blown towards shore or nearby fishing nets it could pose a danger to smaller vessels.  "The lump is ... large enough to show up on radar."

Final blow

Earlier in the year, some wreckage from the £4.5m vessel was found 25 miles off the Irish north Mayo coast. The loss of the superyacht, which was built in Totnes, Devon, was the final blow for the troubled project.

During her first sea trials off the Scilly Islands, one of her bows snapped off and during later tests problems developed with one of her masts. In December, while undergoing final preparations out in the Atlantic for The Race, cracks developed in her accommodation pod.

After a battle to escape ferocious winds and huge waves, the crew were forced to abandon the revolutionary £4m catamaran.

After the loss of the boat, the companies Goss Challenges Ltd and Goss Composites Ltd, set up in Totnes, found themselves in financial difficulties and were voluntarily wound up in April this year. A friend of Goss said that the yachtsman was on holiday and had no comment about the discovery.

Thursday, 4 January, 2001

Goss unveils new ocean mission

Pete Goss's new project aims to break rowing records

Yachtsman Pete Goss has unveiled his latest ocean racer less than a month after his Team Philips catamaran project ended in disaster. His new venture, a futuristic rowing boat, will be aimed at smashing trans-Atlantic records, although Goss will not be part of the four-man crew. Goss revealed the carbon fibre Atlantic Spirit at the London International Boat Show at Earls Court. The Goss Atlantic Row project's Atlantic Spirit hopes to crack two records when the four-man crew, led by former Royal Marine Mark Stubbs, takes the oars of the 10-metre craft in June.

The crew aim to break two records - the 35 day Atlantic rowing record currently held by 11 Frenchmen, and the 55 day west to east crossing. The catamaran Team Philips was dramatically lost in the north Atlantic in early December and just three days before Christmas a tearful Goss announced the end of his bid to race the revolutionary craft around the world.

The sailor's latest vessel, Atlantic Spirit, was built at the Totnes, Devon complex where Team Philips was created.

Carbon fibre

The lightweight craft - just half the weight of her four-man crew - is built of carbon fibre like the ill-fated catamaran and is the brainchild of the same designer, Adrian Thompson. It is a self-righting craft with a watertight crew accommodation area in case of bad weather. In coming weeks the Goss team hopes to launch Atlantic Spirit in Devon and begin trials for the Atlantic record bid.

The crew members have been in training for the attempt but have not yet rowed together.

Crew leader Mark Stubbs said: "We have got the commitment and desire to win and to take on the Atlantic". He added: "Pete has turned this into a reality and now given us the tool to do the business with." Stubbs and his crew plan to start their 2,100 mile voyage from St John's, Newfoundland, to the Isles of Scilly, off west Cornwall, in June.

Friday, 15 December, 2000, 16:19 GMT

Goss refuses to admit defeat

Pete Goss is refusing to admit defeat in his attempts to sail his revolutionary Team Philips boat around the world. On Sunday, Goss and his crew abandoned their £4m ($5.8m) catamaran in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

Team Philips was supposed to be part of Bruno Peyron's round-the-world race, which leaves at the end of the month. His loss will be a significant blow to the organisers.

Rescue

"It was a very traumatic time for everyone," said Goss, who is back in Britain. "But there is no way we are going to make any judgement on the future yet. "We don't act on scenarios, we act on fact and at the moment we don't have any facts, so we will have to wait and see."

The crew were forced to climb aboard the Hapag Lloyd container ship in the middle of a storm which saw 70ft waves force the yacht against the side of the rescue vessel. At one point, the 130ft mast came within four feet of hitting Graham Gough as he climbed up the lifeline thrown from the Hapag Lloyd.

Goss, though, defended his boat, the world's largest racing catamaran, and a project that has been plagued with a string of problems. "If it wasn't for that boat, we would not be here now, it is as simple as that," added Goss. "It stood up to everything we asked for.

A sorry sight: The bow broke in sea trials

Pete Goss

"The reason why we made the decision to abandon ship was because my responsibility is to the crew and I felt that, with the freak weather, they were at risk. "The pod which housed us was not part of the primary structure of the boat but it was this part of Team Philips which was causing the problems. "Cracks were opening up which threatened the integrity of the secondary structure, which housed the crew, but the primary structure stood up to the conditions superbly. "The first thing I am going to do now I am back is to go and see the engineers and designers and thank them for their efforts, for without them we would not be here."

First-class team

Goss must hope the costs of the salvage operation currently underway do not destroy his budget and end any hopes of a future attempt. "I cannot answer how much it will cost because we have only just arrived back and don't know anything yet," he said. "We know where she is and that is about it. Until we have got to her and assessed the damage, we can't be certain of anything. "We will need to carry out a survey to see if she can ever go to sea again, but it is certainly not the end of this team, which is nothing short of first class."

Friday, 15 December, 2000

Revolutionary catamaran 'saved our lives'

Pete Goss inspects the accommodation pod before the final trip

The crew of the stricken superyacht Team Philips would not be alive today if it were not for the radical design of the vessel, according to her skipper Pete Goss. The catamaran's crew arrived back in Britain on Friday, just days after their terrifying rescue from stormy Atlantic seas. After a futile eight-hour battle to escape ferocious winds and huge waves, the crew were forced to abandon the revolutionary £4m catamaran when a section of the vessel was smashed.

Speaking after their arrival at Heathrow Airport at 0700GMT, Mr Goss said the storm was the worst he had experienced. But he said: "We wouldn't be here if we weren't on Team Philips."

Mr Goss, who came up with the idea of the catamaran's design, refused to speculate on its future. But he insisted the team involved in the Team Philips project did have a future.

"The key to this project is the people and we have a future. We're not beaten, far from it."

Perfect performance

The superyacht, which is 120ft long and 70ft wide, was planned and built by a team of designers and craftsmen at Totnes in Devon, and was intended to travel at speeds of up to 40 knots. It was also the largest carbon-fibre structure in the world and cost about £4m to construct. About 80 cars could be parked next to each other between the two hulls. One of the most radical aspects of the vessel's design was her twin unsupported wingmasts.

With no stays attached, there was nothing to hold the giant structures in place but the strength of the hull itself. Each mast was subjected to a force similar to that experienced by the wing of a jumbo jet. On Friday, Mr Goss said that despite the eventual outcome, the catamaran had performed perfectly. "Every little bit of work that went into that boat was tested in that storm. She was quite fantastic," he said.

'Rogue waves'

"We were trying to create a vessel that is a generation ahead and we have done it," he said.

"We were in the unknown. No one had ever been in those conditions in a catamaran, it was very frightening. The raw energy was quite extraordinary."

The storm, a severe depression known as a "bomb", had not been forecast, said Mr Goss.

"Rogue waves", which had moved so quickly they could not be distinguished from clouds, had crashed across the vessel, finally damaging the accommodation pod and endangering the lives of those on board. The skipper praised the captain of the German container ship, the Hoescht Express, which rescued the seven-strong crew more than 750 miles west of Ireland.

"He handled that ship like a dinghy," he said.

Despite Mr Goss's vigorous defence of the catamaran, she was plagued by setbacks following her launch by the Queen in March. In her first outing, part of the craft's bow snapped off prompting concerns that its radical design may have been flawed. She was re-launched having undergone £250,000 of repairs and strengthening, but a second sea trial in October ended after just a few hours when the vessel suffered a mast problem.

Thursday, 16 November, 2000

Giant catamaran back at sea

Team Philips is afloat again

Pete Goss says vessel is up to The Race

Pete Goss, the man behind Team Phillips stood to set tremendous new records with this exciting catamaran design.

Team Phillips under construction

The design concept was good, but the whole venture was said to have been let down by bonding deficiencies and resin incompatibility.  Perhaps if the built in safety factor had been higher, the boat may have survived.

The catamaran hulls were wave piercing, not a new idea and certainly not a problem.  The masts featured a number of innovations to stretch existing technology to breaking point.  We say well done Mr Goss, for having the nerve to push boat design forward.  Next time, and we hope there will be a next time, consider higher safety factors, different materials and manufacturing processes.

Team Phillips on the River Dart