Airbag to keep windsurfer safe on 8000 km voyage   The windsurfer used by Raphaela Le Gouvello to cross the Pacific Ocean in about 80 days is a specially built board, designed by Guy Saillard from Ploemeur. Overall length is 7.80 metres with 6.80 in the water, midship width is 1.30 metres and the total weight reaches an approximately 550 kg. It is built of epoxy resin and carbon fibre with airex foam and internal partitions in honeycomb. 12-volt batteries are mounted within a watertight compartment inside the board together with VHF-radio, GPS-navigation system and the Iridium satellite telephone. Flexible solar cells are mounted on top of the board to reload the batteries.   The airbag system on Raphaëla Le Gouvello’s windsurfer is seen here in tests done in France after mounting of the final version on the board. The first picture illustrates how the inflated airbag system blocks a complete 180-degree turnover. The second and third picture illustrates how Le Gouvello manages to recover the surfboard alone without too much force. The airbag using ESA technology is inflated within seconds and has a total inflated volume of 170 litres, sufficient to control the 550 kg heavy board.   Raphaela Le Gouvello carries with her six special mono-film woven sails from Neil Pryde, in four sizes from 4.2 to 7.4 m2. She also carries four masts, all in carbon fibre, and three wishbones in aluminium to suit different wind conditions and as spares in case of broken equipment. During her expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 2000 one mast broke due to rapid change in weather from calm sea to heavy storm. The interior of the board is divided into three watertight compartments with a tube for sleeping in the back third. The menu for the almost three month marathon voyage is based upon dehydrated freeze-drying food, dry fruits and energy bars. Drinking water is generated daily from seawater by a special desalination system power by the 12-volt batteries onboard, providing up to five litres per hour. In case of low or no power, the desalination system can be operated manually to guarantee drinking water.   Extreme sports adventurer Raphaela Le Gouvello will windsurf across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Australia. Her epic journey starts in August 2003, with the first stage to Tahiti, Polynesia, to be reached after 80 days windsurfing about 4300 nautical miles or 8000 Km. Raphaela Le Gouvello used a windsurfer to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 2000, and the Mediterranean in 2002. Space technology will be helping her windsurf safer though her third and longest voyage. Flexible solar cells secure electricity while an innovative airbag system guards against capsizing. Both innovations were produced by European space industries as spin-off from European space programmes. The picture illustrates the trip’s three stages: First stage is from Peru to Tahiti, 4300 nautical miles or 8000 km, and to be completed during August-November 2003. Second stage is from Tahiti via Fiji Islands to New Caledonia, 2720 nautical miles or 5000 km, planned spring 2004. Third stage is from New Caledonia to Australia where the expedition will end near Brisbane, south of the Great Barrier Reef. When Raphaela Le Gouvello has completed her mission in 2004 she will have windsurfed more than 14,000 km. Release date: 16 January 2007