New Fastnet record: MOD70 PowerPlay sets new fastest time yachtingworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yachtingworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Whatever happened to America s Cup? Print this article
Try guessing the world record speed of a boat under sail. How fast can a wind-propelled vessel go without assistance from a motor? For the sake of mental comparison, think of walking speed, which is generally 2 to 3 mph. A fast walker might do 4 mph. Most people don’t jog faster than 6 mph. Double that and you’re on a traditional Atlantic racing yacht. The theoretical maximum speed of one I crewed on in the 1970s was nearly 12 knots, about 14 mph. That’s bracingly brisk when you’re on board 45 tons out in the ocean.
Yachting World 0shares
The America s Cup boats to be used on the 2021 edition of the event are unlike anything we have seen before. They might be officially sailing craft but they behave in some remarkable ways.
The AC75s, the America’s Cup boats currently racing in the Prada Cup and that will be used for next month’s Cup match showdown, are arguably the most radical boat the America’s Cup has ever seen.
The America’s Cup is, fundamentally, a design competition, and successive America’s Cups have featured the most extreme yachts yet – for their time – ever since the first race in 1851.
(CNN) For more than eight years, the world sailing speed record has remained unbroken.
In November 2012, Australian Paul Larsen reached 65.45 knots (or 121 kilometers per hour/75 mph) in his Vesta Sailrocket 2 in South Atlantic waters off the coast of Namibia.
However, two rival teams, one in France and one in Switzerland, are now striving relentlessly towards the same goal: to create the fastest sailboat ever built.
One is headed by the former world title holder, and there are two brothers involved but on opposing teams.
Paul Larsen is a sailing speed freak. His Vestas Sailrocket 2 boat broke the world speed sailing record for a mile in 2012: 78.26 mph! What s he up to now?