- [Phil] For most people
it's a very strange apparition coming across the desert.
You don't have any engine sound.
It's just the sound of the tires
going over the little cracks in the playa.
It is far out looking. It is spacy, definitely.
Especially when it gets going.
My name's Phil Rothrock and I'm a land sailor.
This is a land yacht.
And basically it's a three-wheeled vehicle
that's designed to sail anywhere that's flat.
I've been designing and building land yachts
since the early eighties mostly with my father.
He died 10 years ago
and I have added his name here "The Arthur A",
Arthur Alonzo Rothrock,
just so that he's still with me in spirit.
I control the whole thing with what I call the sheet wheel.
It's basically a steering wheel that's used
for sheeting the wing,
and then I'm able to move the flap
from side to side depending on the tack that I'm on.
And then the flap itself can be pivoted
to add more power as needed.
We've got yachts developed now to be able to do
50 miles an hour in wind at even six or seven miles an hour.
The fastest I've gone out here is 93.
- [John] My name's John Eisenlohr
driving "The Big Yellow Gold" out there.
(chuckles)
It's a bit of a break from the real world.
I mean, you can see there's nobody out here hardly.
And you're level of relaxation really peaks here.
(laughs)
Just the scenery here. It's just gorgeous.
The surface here is one of the best for land sailing.
It's hard.
You could almost take a skateboard
on some of the smoother places here.
- [Phil] There's no place better than the Alvord desert
in the whole world as far as I know.
There aren't many people here. It's wide open.
We're seven miles across 12 miles long
so we can sail to our heart's content
as long as there's wind.
(chuckles)
One key ingredient and sailors worldwide know this,
is you need wind.
Sometimes we'll come out here and spend
at times days waiting for the winds.
Well, when the wind doesn't blow
we've taken to just going out on little expeditions
and seeing what we might find that's a little different
and there's always something.
Many years ago, we came out to this spot
and it has become famous in our family
for what we call "Upside Down Lake".
Oh my gosh, this is pretty wet this year.
But when you get out on it and you start moving
you can see the whole thing is floating.
(laughs)
It's like a water bed, a giant waterbed.
(laughs)
The bottom of the lake is on the top. There you are.
Strangest thing. In the middle of the desert.
(laughs)
- [John] Well, here's the remnants of my axle
from yesterday.
I was probably going about 50 or so,
and it was just too much for the spindly plank here.
Got the new replacement one.
Put that on and fix a bunch of bent up things.
So we're going to pre-step the mast
and go for a little sail.
Hopefully if it gets windy enough.
- [Phil] Yeah, it's picking up a little bit. You feel it?
What we're feeling right now we call sucker puffs
and they're called sucker puffs
because they suckers you into thinking that you've got it
and you go out there and you get maybe a mile from camp
and it just drops so you have to walk back in.
You need something that gets you started
and then kind of keeps you going.
Doesn't drop you.
And as you can continue to go
the yacht develops its own land.
And pretty soon you're moving pretty fast
in a fairly light breeze.
When we get a good wind, this is a very big space.
And so we do just, we call it a desert tour.
As the day goes on, you see the shadows on the mountain
and the hillsides all change.
And so when I'm in my yacht sailing
you get a different view from every part of the desert.
We're just exploring the desert
via a wind propelled machine.
- [John] Alls you hear is the roar of the wheels
rolling on this playa,
and maybe some of the shrouds
are whistling through the wind.
When it hits the boat
the boat can kind of crab a little bit sideways
and then squat down and then start accelerating.
It's just unbelievable the G-forces.
- [Phil] I love to see a yacht sailing across the desert
leaving trails of dust as it goes.
Sometimes it actually looks like it's left the desert floor
and is floating.
And when it all comes together
and you have a great sailing experience
that's when you know this is what it's all about.
You know, this is what I come out for.
I love it.