At 06:22 local time yesterday the maxi-catamaran completed its seventh passage – Hong Kong to London – breaking the previous record held by Philippe Monnet since 1990. The new record time is 41 days 21 hours 26 minutes 34 seconds, meaning the team covered the 15,312 miles at an average speed of 15.23 knots.

Gitana 13’s arrival in the city marks the end of a long adventure, which began back in January. Setting out to sail across the world’s seas for nine months, the maxi-catamaran covered nearly 40,000 miles, and seven out of seven record attempts were transformed into outright records.

Skipper Lionel Lemonchois commented: “This project was a real challenge for me. More familiar to racing single-handed, I was looking forward to driving a crew like that of Gitana 13. The seven records gleaned are clearly a great satisfaction but I am particularly proud of the human success story that has come about as a result of this long record campaign. We relished the idea of bringing some maritime routes, which have a real historic value, back into favour.”

Gitana 13’s records

Route de l’Or (New York – San Francisco, via Cape Horn): in 43 days 3 minutes 18 seconds (February 2008)
North Pacific Crossing (San Francisco – Yokohama): in 11 days 12 minutes 55 seconds (April 2008)
Tea Route (Hong Kong – London): 41 days 21 hours 26 minutes 34 seconds (September 2008)
Yokohama – Dalian: 3 days 20 hours 19 minutes and 11 seconds
Dalian – Qingdao: 23 hours 50 minutes and 20 seconds
Qingdao – Taiwan: 3 days 52 minutes and 15 seconds
Taipei – Hong-Kong: 1 day 58 minutes 27 seconds