sailing records

Eastern Atlantic - The maxi trimarans Sodeb'O and IDEC appear to be playing leapfrog across the high seas, and in the record books.  Mere weeks after Francis Joyon took the sailing record for the Discovery Route from Coville and Sodeb'O, and Coville has set out to take the 'round the world record from Joyon.  Casting off from Brest yesterday just before 1400 GMT, Sodeb'O is currently ahead of IDEC's reference tim

San Salvador, Bahamas - Francis Joyon of France has made land, and set a new world sailing record* for the Discovery Route from Cadiz, Spain.  With a time of 9 days, 20 hours, and 35 minutes, IDEC has beat the previous record set by Thomas Coville, and added yet another feat to Joyon's collection (Joyon also holds the 'round the world solo record).  This route is an approximation of the course that Columbus took in 1492 when it is often said he "discovered" the new world (though the Americas were already populated, and ha

Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France - While 50 knots remains elusive to anything but two kite-sailors, the massive hydrofoil trimaran l’Hydroptère has just established two new sailing records while they attempt to break the 50kt barrier over 500 meters:

The yacht Ericsson 4 has smashed the elusive 600 mile barrier, and set a new 24 hour distance world sailing record for a monohull sailboat!  Skipper Torben Grael and his crew made the record on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at 18:54 GMT Wednesday, beating the time set by Sebastien Josse and his crew on ABN Amro Two during the 2006-2007 race.

Canary Islands - Francis Joyon left Cadiz, Spain yesterday, sailing his famous maxi-trimaran yacht IDEC for a new world trans-Atlantic record on the historic Discovery Route from Cadiz to San Salvador in the Bahamas - the same route it is assumed Christopher Columbus took in 1492. With the 'round the world solo record under his belt (set in January), Joyon is aiming to break the Discovery Route time set by Thomas Coville on Sodeb'O, and it's going to be a tough

New York - Richard Branson, Ben Ainslie, Mike Sanderson, Stan Honey and 21 other crew members sailed away from Ambrose light in New York at 04:00 local time this morning, aiming to be break the sailing record as the fastest monohull yacht to cross the Atlantic - a journey of over 2925 nautical miles. Virgin Money will