''Comanche'' is a 100-ft (33 m)

maxi yacht A maxi yacht usually refers to a racing yacht of at least in length. Origin The term ''maxi'' originated with the International Offshore Rule (IOR) rating system, which in the 1970s and 1980s measured offshore racing yachts and applied a single ...

. She was designed in France by

VPLP VPLP Design (Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost) is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently ...

and Guillaume Verdier and built in the United States by

Hodgdon Yachts Hodgdon Shipbuilding, LLC, known as Hodgdon Yachts, is an American shipbuilding company that builds Yacht, yachts and specialized military vessels, based in Boothbay, Maine, East Boothbay, Maine. It is a family-run business founded in 1816—the o ...

for Dr. James H. Clark. ''Comanche'' held the 24-hour sailing record for

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...

s until May 2023, covering 618 nmi, for an average of 25.75 knots or 47.69 kmh/h. The boat won line honours in the 2015

Fastnet race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after th ...

and the 2015 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, under the leadership of skipper

Ken Read Kenneth John Read (born November 6, 1955) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. He was a specialist in the downhill and a two-time Olympian. He won five World Cup races during his ten-year international career, all in downhill. ...

. In 2017, ''Comanche'' set a new Transpac record, covering 484.1 nmi in 24 hours, for an average speed of . In 2019, under navigator

Stan Honey Stan Honey (born April 8, 1955) is an American professional offshore navigator with world sailing records and a businessman who founded Etak and Sportvision. Honey's track record as a navigator includes a victory in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Rac ...

, the yacht won the 2225-mile 50th

Transpacific Yacht Race The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) is a biennial offshore yacht race held in odd-numbered years starting off the Pt. Fermin buoy in San Pedro, California and ending off Diamond Head in Hawaii, a distance of around . In even-numbered years the ...

, with a time of 5 days 11 hours 14 minutes 05 seconds. ''Comanche'' won the 2017 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with a time of 1 day 9 hours 15 minutes 24 seconds, a record that still stands today. At 5 days 14 hours 21 minutes 25 seconds, ''Comanche'' holds the Monohull Transatlantic sailing record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, which they achieved on July 28, 2016. In December 2017, ''Comanche'' was sold to Australian Jim Cooney, and was renamed to LDV Comanche, as part of a one-time sponsorship from SAIC Maxus Automotive Co's LDV brand. The yacht later returned to its original, unsponsored title of Comanche. Under this name it won the Sydney-Hobart race again in 2019 in 1 day 18 hours and 30 minutes. Soon after the completion of the 2019 Sydney-Hobart race, Comanche was reportedly sold to a Russian interest group. In 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the operators made a statement denying Russian ownership.

References

External links

''Comanche'' technical details and plans''Comanche'' on Facebook
Sailing yachts designed by VPLP 2010s sailing yachts Maxi yachts Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race yachts {{DEFAULTSORT:Comanche (yacht)