Phil Sharp (born 11 May 1981) is a British

yachtsman A yacht () is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a ...

. He was born in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

(Channel Islands), educated at Victoria College Jersey and qualified from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering. Sharp holds World Speed Sailing Records. and

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

for the Cowes-to-Dinard

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 ...

under 60 ft singlehanded (set in 2016), and crewed around Britain and Ireland under 40 ft (set in 2018).

Biography

Racing a 2013 Manuard Mach 2 design under the name Imerys Clean Energy, Sharp won the

Class40 Class40 is a class of monohull sailboat and a yacht primarily used for short handed offshore and coastal racing. The class is administered by International Class40 Association which is recognised by the World Sailing. Background In 2004 former ...

ocean racing Yacht racing is a Sailing (sport), sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course mark ...

Championship in 2017 and 2018 with title sponsor

Imerys IMERYS S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational company that specialises in the production and processing of industrial minerals. The main headquarters is located in Paris and are constituents of the CAC Mid 60 index. Groupe Bru ...

. In 2006, Sharp won the

Route du Rhum The Route du Rhum is a wikt:transatlantic, transatlantic Single-handed sailing, single-handed yacht racing, yacht race, which takes place every four years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, Metropolitan France and Pointe-à- ...

single-handed race from

St Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. The walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

, Brittany, to

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

aboard a Class40 and is entered for the 2018 edition. In 2016, Sharp lost his lead in the single-handed in the Transat Bakerly (

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, UK – New York, US) after his

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

shredded in a storm. Sharp made a temporary repair and finished the race in 3rd place. Sharp is a mechanical engineering specialist in high-performance composite structural design. He engineered a

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

through his time at Blade Dynamics on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

and three carbon-fibre booms at Future Fibres in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Spain. Sharp designed what is (as of August 2018) the largest yacht in the world, ''A''. The £260 million superyacht has a length of and a gross tonnage of 12,558. In 2018 Sharp co-founded Genevos in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

to develop and commercialise marine fuel cells to decarbonise vessels with

green hydrogen Green hydrogen (GH2 or GH2) is hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity. Production of green hydrogen causes significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than production of grey hydrogen, which is derived fr ...

. Sharp is a member of the Royal Cruising Club and Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club. He is a founder of PS Racing Ltd, a sports-management company which operates OceansLab – Race to Zero Emissions. A key campaign objective is to compete in the Everest of Sailing, the Vendee Globe solo, non-stop, around the world race, while being powered by wind and a Genevos Hydrogen Power Module. In 2023 he commissioned his new boat Oceanslab.

Records

* 2019: Monohull (40 ft and single-handed) for Around the Isle of Wight. Starting and finishing on 19 December 2019, the distance of was sailed at an average speed of in 5 hours, 5 minutes and 4 seconds. * 2018: Monohull (crewed, up to 40 feet) for the Round Britain and Ireland. Starting on 12 August 2018, the distance of sailed was covered at an average speed of in 8 days, 4 hours, 14 minutes. * 2016: Monohull and multihull (single-handed up to 60 feet) for the Channel (

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

, Isle of Wight –

Dinard Dinard (; , ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this has resul ...

, Brittany). The route distance of was covered on 24 November in 9 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 15.25 kn (28.24 km/h).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Phil 1981 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London English male sailors (sport) Jersey male sailors (sport) People educated at Victoria College, Jersey 21st-century English sportsmen