The two Ultim foiling trimarans which had set off on a Jules Verne Trophy around the world non-stop record attempt have both aborted their current circumnavigation. Francois Gabart‘s SVR-Lazartigue was first to…
sailing records
Head-to-head Jules Verne attempts: two Ultim trimarans set off to try and break 40 days around the world
The two crews are both attempting to break the non-stop, around the world record – the ‘no limits’ Jules Verne Trophy – which currently stands at 40 days, 23 hours,…
New solo sailing world record: Vendée skipper covers incredible 546 miles in 24 hours
Nicolas Lunven, skipper of the IMOCA Holcim-PRB has set a new 24-hour record for a single-handed monohull (pending official certification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council). Lunven has covered…
640.9 miles in 24hrs: Holcim-PRB smashes monohull record
Kevin Escoffier’s IMOCA Holcim-PRB, competing in the The Ocean Race, has annihilated the 24-hour monohull sailing record by covering an incredible 640.9 miles on the fifth leg from Newport to Aarhus. This…
The coolest record breaking boats
While hyper-luxury superyachts are clearly cool to look at (and would be very cool to own) there’s no denying that speed is cool and this collection of record breaking boats…
Emirates Team New Zealand set land speed record pace
Emirates Team New Zealand and Land speed pilot Glenn Ashby have sailed their land yacht Horonuku, faster than any previous records, clocking in at 222.4kph on Monday 12 December and…
Paul Larsen’s record-breaking SailRocket 2 to sail again: 10 years on
Paul Larsen, who has held the outright speed sailing record for 10 years, has dusted off the record-breaking craft SailRocket 2 and plans to sail again out of Weymouth later…
Speed sailing record: A global battle for dominance
Speed sailing records are a relatively new concept. Although the motor car is a newer invention than the sailboat (by many thousands of years!) it was not until 1972 that…
New Zealand aims for windpowered land speed record
Not content with being one of the most successful teams in the history of the America’s Cup – and current holders of the Cup – Emirates Team New Zealand is…
Around Cape Horn in a proa
American sailor Ryan Finn has become the first yachtsman ever to sail around Cape Horn in a proa. Finn completed his New York to San Francisco solo record attempt on…
Syroco: Radical design aiming to set a new speed record
If having a top-flight speed sailor as a part of your team taking on the challenge of creating the world’s fastest sailboat is a mark of potential, then Syroco certainly…
SP80: Swiss team hoping to build the fastest sailboat
SP80 was conceived by three graduates of Swiss engineering school, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Benoît Gaudiot, Xavier Lepercq and Mayeul van den Broek. In terms of the teams currently…
Fastest sailboats: The teams aiming to break 80 knots
On 24 November 2012, Paul Larsen and his Sailrocket team rewrote our understanding of the physics of sailboats, stamping their names indelibly in the record books as they set a…
Westabout round the world record attempts on rocks off Cape Horn
Two skippers attempting an around the world record attempt against the prevailing winds and currents have run aground in the Patagonian channels, having taken shelter from a storm after rounding…
Round the world race: 100ft trimarans set for solo race
The Ultim class has announced the first single-handed race round the world for giant multihulls, the Solo Ultim World Tour. This will likely be the most challenging ocean sailing race…
World’s toughest sailing record: New bid announced
An attempt on the toughest sailing record, the westabout round the world course, is being planned later this year by French sailor Romain Pilliard. The 46-year-old Figaro sailor and IMOCA…
851 miles in a day – solo sailor Gabart sets incredible new sailing record in giant trimaran
An astonishing new solo 24-hour record has been set by French sailor François Gabart. The single-hander covered 851 miles in the South Atlantic in his 98ft trimaran MACIF. This equates…
French solo sailor François Gabart out to beat round the world record in under 49 days in giant trimaran
French solo sailor François Gabart set off yesterday on an attempt to break the single-handed round the world race. He left from his home port of Port-la-Forêt in Brittany to…
Francis Joyon breaks his own North Atlantic solo record aboard IDEC Sport
Francis Joyon has beaten his own North Atlantic solo record by 49 minutes aboard IDEC Sport, the VPLP designed maxi trimaran that last winter smashed the Jules Verne Trophy crewed…
Coville sets incredible new 49-day solo round the world record – with a blistering average speed of 23 knots
Solo sailor Thomas Coville has pulverised one of the hardest records in sport: the single-handed round the world record. He took his 105ft trimaran Sodebo Ultim over the finish line…