Since the five-week voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, quickly and safely, between Europe and the Americas has always been an important issue. Today, the route has become a classic one among skippers. The record is one of the most prestigious, next to the Jules Verne Trophy, for which it is often a good preparation.
This record can be achieved both ways: from west to east or from east to west. It can also be homologated single-handed or crewed, on monohulls or on multihulls. It is homologated, since 1972, by the WSSRC[1]
From west to east
This route is the fastest, as it follows the prevailing westerlies. It is the one that meets the most interest among skippers. The crossing must be made from Ambrose Light of New York to an imaginary line linking Lizard Point, Cornwall to Ushant. The distance is around 2,880 nautical miles (5,330km; 3,310mi).
Groupama 3, previous record holder for both directions, from east to west and west to east, both crewed and singlehandedly under the name of IDEC Sport
This crossing is made between Cadiz and San Salvador Island, for a distance of 3,884 nautical miles (7,193km). It was also called Route of the discovery in honor of Christopher Columbus and his 1492 crossing.
Skipper - Steve Fossett(USA), Dave Scully, Pete Melvin, Brian Thompson(GBR), Peter Hogg, Mark Featherstone, Dave Calvert, Mikaela Von Koskull, Will Howden, Tim Zimmermann, Nick Leggatt, Simon Fisher, Dave Thomson
Skipper - Dona Bertarelli(SUI) Co-Skipper - Yann Guichard(FRA) Xavier Revil, Jean Baptiste Le Vaillant, Antoine Carraz, Thierry Douillard, Christophe Espagnon, Sébastien Marsset, Nicolas Texier, Erwan Tabarly, François Morvan, Thomas Rouxel, Simone Gaeta, Erwan Israel
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the absolute round the world record. The trophy was first awarded to the first yacht which sailed around the world in less than 80 days. The name of the award is a reference to the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days in which Phileas Fogg traverses the planet in 80 days. The current holder is IDEC Sport skippered by Francis Joyon in 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds.
Francis Joyon is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on IDEC SPORT, nearly five days less than the previous reference time. He held the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation from 2008 to 2016.
The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR) is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth in England to Newport, Rhode Island in the United States, and has generally been held on a four yearly basis.
Speed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the lower friction involved. The World Sailing Speed Record Council is the body authorized by the World Sailing to confirm speed records of sailing craft on water.
The World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) was founded in 1972, initially to ratify records at the inaugural Weymouth Speed Week held every year since in Portland Harbor.The WSSRC is the body authorized by the World Sailing to confirm speed records of sailing craft on water. In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres. Since 1988 the WSSRC is also responsible for offshore sailing records, because there were several controversial claims about the times of long voyages. The first records recorded in 1972 were the Outright record of Sir Timothy Colman, Crossbow, 26.30 knots ; Icarus 21.6 knots ; Mayfly 16.40 knots and Lief Wagner Smitt, windsurfer 13.6 knots.
The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among Cruisers.
The clipper route was the traditional route derived from the Brouwer Route and sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, to make use of the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along the route, particularly at Cape Horn, which the clippers had to round on their return to Europe.
The 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge was celebrated at the 100th anniversary of the 1905 race for the Kaiser's Cup also known as "The Great Ocean Race". In this race, there was a skipper named Charlie Barr who raced the 3-masted schooner called Atlantic across the ocean for nearly 3,000 nautical miles (6,000 km) of the North Atlantic to set a monohull unbeaten record for the 1905 course of exactly only 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds.
Zara Davis is an English windsurfer. She holds the outright World Women’s Nautical Mile speed record for a sailing vessel. The record was achieved in Namibia in 2006 and ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. She has since improved this record for the Nautical Mile to 37.29 knots at La Plame in the South of France. Ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
Cheyenne, formerly known as PlayStation is a large catamaran created for the 2000 around the world race known as The Race. Like its competitors, Cheyenne was created for sheer speed, pushing the state of the art in materials, construction, and operation. PlayStation was skippered and owned by Steve Fossett. It is owned by and operated by Virgin Oceanic's co-founder Chris Welsh.
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three most sought after records are the:
Groupama 3 is a high performance racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting IDEC SPORTBanque Populaire VII, Lending Club 2, IDEC 3). She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation of the world. She was originally skippered by French yachtsman Franck Cammas, with a crew of ten and sponsored by the French insurance company Groupama. She is currently skippered by Françis Joyon.
Banque Populaire V, is an offshore-racing trimaran which was originally run by Team Banque Populaire. It was Team Banque Populaire's fifth boat designed to set oceanic records. She was launched on 4 October 2008 in Nantes, France. She holds multiple records for sailing over set courses, as well as the record for distance sailed in 24 hours by any class of sailing boat, 908.2 nm.
Pascal Bidegorry is a French sailor.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world was Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew who completed their journey in 1522. The first solo record was set by Joshua Slocum in the Spray (1898).
IDEC 2 is an ocean racing trimaran skippered by Francis Joyon and sponsored by groupe IDEC. She is currently named Qingdao China.
Thomas Coville is a French yacht racer.
Phil Sharp is a British yachtsman. He was born in Jersey, educated at Victoria College Jersey and qualified from Imperial College London with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering. Sharp holds World Speed Sailing Records. and Guinness World Records for the Cowes-to-Dinard monohull under 60 ft singlehanded, and crewed around Britain and Ireland under 40 ft.
Passage records have been sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC).
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