Tracy Edwards’ 110 ft maxi-catamaran, Maiden II has successfully broken the current 24 hour distant record that is currently held by Steve Fosset onboard Playstation, with a run of 697 nm to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council tomorrow morning.

The 13-man crew set sail from Newport to a point south-south east that had been identified by navigator Adrienne Cahalan, at 1914 UTC on, Wednesday 12 June. 24 hours later, Maiden II has become the fastest ocean going yacht in the world. With speeds clocked at 44 knots and an unofficial average speed of 29 knots, the crew of Maiden II has worked extremely hard over the last 36 hours pushing the boat to its limit.

Sailing Director Tracy Edwards was thrilled with the result:

“I cannot describe how I feel! This confirms my belief that this is exactly the right boat to do the job and confirms my obvious belief in the crew. They are have worked so hard and are now exhausted having been up for 36 hours with only five drivers, five people down and some crew that had never sailed the boat before. It is an incredible achievement.”

Edwards and her crew await the ratification from the World Speed Sailing Records Council tomorrow morning, to claim the EDS 24 Hour Multihull World Speed Record Trophy, making Maiden II the fastest yacht in the world.