Speed sailing 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 ...

records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the

World Sailing Speed Record Council 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 (formerly Internat ...

(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: * ''500 metre (or "outright") record'' is held by Paul Larsen. On 24 November 2012 he sailed the Vestas Sailrocket 2 at 65.45 knots in

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land. The bay is a ...

, Namibia. * ''

Nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...

record'' is held by Paul Larsen. On 18 November 2012 he sailed the Vestas Sailrocket 2 at 55.32 knots in

, Namibia. * ''24 Hour distance record'' is held by

Pascal Bidégorry Pascal Bidegorry (born 15 January 1968, in Bayonne) is a French sailor. Life He has raced across the Atlantic Ocean over 30 times and has set records in many classes. He has won the Solitaire du Figaro and the Transat Jacques Vabre; apart from ...

. On 1 August 2009 he sailed the

Banque Populaire V ''Banque Populaire V'', (now renamed ''Spindrift 2'') 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 2 ...

908 nautical miles (at 37.84 knots). This was while he was breaking the northern Atlantic record.

500 metre records

Class records

Last updated: 19 November 2012.

Nautical mile records

Day's run

A ''Day's run'' is the distance traveled by a vessel in one day, normally measured from noon to noon. This was the traditional measure used in the days of packet and clipper ships and varied in the actual time dependent on whether the vessel was sailing east or west. The records certified by the WSSRC since 1994 are based on a 24-hour distance measure irrespective of longitude.

24 hour distance record

Note that the nineteenth century records are not strictly compatible as they measure a "Day's run" which was measured noon to noon regardless of longitude. The two entries above were both eastbound and therefore less than 24 hours.

Notable performances

During her

Jules Verne Trophy 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 t ...

record in 2011-2012, the

skippered by

Loïck Peyron Loïck Peyron (born 1 December 1959 in Nantes) is a French yachtsman, younger brother of the yachtsman Bruno Peyron. He is particularly famous for winning many races in the 1990s on board his trimaran ''Fujicolor''. Among his notable achieveme ...

covered 811.70 nautical miles in 24 hours on 3 December 2011 at 11:45 UT, posting 28 days over 600 miles, including 9 days over 700 miles and 1 day over 800 miles. During her Jules-Verne trophy record in 2009-2010, the trimaran

Groupama 3 ''IDEC SPORT'' (formerly ''Groupama 3'', ''Banque Populaire VII'', ''Lending Club 2'', ''IDEC 3'') is a racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting. She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and the cur ...

skippered by

Franck Cammas Franck Cammas (born 22 December 1972 in Aix-en-Provence) is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two-year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, ...

covered 798 nautical miles in 24 hours on 13 February 2010 at 5 p.m. UT, showing 17 days over 600 miles, including 10 days over 700 miles. During her Jules-Verne trophy record in 2016-2017, the trimaran Idec sport in the hands of

Francis Joyon Francis Joyon (born 28 May 1956) is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on '' IDEC SPORT'' (40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds), nearly five ...

and his crew of Clément Surtel, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet and Sébastien Audigane, covered 894 nautical miles in 24 hours, and 10 consecutive days at 809 miles / 24 h. Francis Joyon rounds Cape Horn, 16 days after riding off of South America, and after a course of nearly 12,000 miles above an average of 30 knots (730.16 miles / 24 h over 16 days). He then signs a performance increase of between 30 and 40% compared to the record to be broken by Loïck Peyron 5 years earlier. Leaving the southern seas with a lead of 4 j 06 h 35 min over Loïck Peyron's previous record, Francis Joyon, Clément Surtel, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet and Sébastien Audigane regained the equivalent of 2,800 miles on the record during this episode. During the aborted attempt of 2019, Yann Guichard sets a new record crossing the equator in 4 days 19 h 57 min and, thanks to favorable weather conditions, lines up 4,812.1 miles from the 11th to 16th day, or 802 miles / day for 6 consecutive days. 24 hour distance record for

Armel Le Cléac'h Armel Le Cléac’h (; born 11 May 1977 in Saint-Pol-de-Léon) is a French professional navigator and sea captain. He was the International Monohull Open Classes Association, IMOCA world champion in 2008 and French champion in single-handed yacht ...

on Banque Populaire VII: 682,85 miles in 24 hours singlehanded on 2014 January 26th (28,45 knots). During his record around the world Singlehanded in 2017, 24 hour distance record for

François Gabart François Gabart (born 23 March 1983 in Saint-Michel-d'Entraygues, France) is a French professional offshore yacht racer who won the 2012-13 Vendée Globe in 78 days 2 hours 16 minutes, setting a new race record. In 2017 he set the speed record ...

on Macif: 850,68 miles in 24h. During his attempt for the

on December 5, 2020,

Thomas Coville Thomas Coville (born 10 May 1968) is a French yacht racer. Coville was born in Rennes. He participated in significant offshore races and record attempts. In April 2012, he achieved 7 circumnavigations of the world, on mono or multihulls, sing ...

on :fr:Sodebo Ultim 3 covered 889.9 miles in 24 hours (37.1 knots average, top speed 48.9 knots). During his attempt for the

on December 21, 2024,

on SVR-Lazartigue covered 892.2 miles in 24 hours (37.2 knots average, top speed over 50 knots). During the return trip after his victory in the 2021 Transat Jacques-Vabre,

Charles Caudrelier Charles Caudrelier (born 26 February 1974) is a French sailor who has sailed in multiple Volvo Ocean Races. Born in Paris and raised in Brittany, Caudrelier is a merchant navy officer. He won the Solitaire du Figaro, a solo race, in 2004 and als ...

broke two unofficial records on the :fr:Maxi Edmond de Rothschild: in false solo training, he reached 50.7 knots, and covered 880 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 36.6 knots. This last record cannot be approved for a lack of adequate equipment on board.

124 hour Boston Teapot record

The Boston Teapot Trophy is an annual award given by

Sail Training International Sail Training International (STI) is a non-profit international sail training organisation, with members in 29 countries. Its main aim is the "development and education of young people of all nations, cultures, and social backgrounds through the ex ...

to a

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on a ...

vessel that covers the greatest distance under sail within a 124-hour period. A vessel must have a

waterline length A vessel's length at the waterline (abbreviated to L.W.L) is the length of a ship or boat at the level where it sits in the water (the ''waterline''). The LWL will be shorter than the length of the boat overall (''length overall'' or LOA) as mos ...

exceeding 30 feet (9.14 m) with a majority of the crew under 25 years of age. The

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 ...

officially acknowledged ''

Statsraad Lehmkuhl ''Statsraad Lehmkuhl'' is a three-masted barque rigged sail training vessel owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. It is based in Bergen (city), Bergen, Norway and contracted out for various purposes, including serving as a scho ...

's'' record in 2016. The top five distances recorded since the start of the race in 1964 have been :

Instantaneous speed record

The idea of an instantaneous speed record is not officially sanctioned by the WSSRC and is, therefore, not officially measured or documented. The highest speed ever reported is from the crew of

Vestas Sailrocket The ''Vestas Sailrocket'' was built to capture the sailing speed record competing in the B-class for 150 to 235 square feet of sail. It is piloted by the project leader Paul Larsen and sponsored by Danish wind turbines manufacturer Vestas. In 2 ...

2 : on 24 November 2012 they recorded a top speed of 68.33 knots in a 25–29-knot wind. Previously, the highest speed ever reported was from the crew of l'Hydroptère. During an attempt on 21 December 2008 at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, they recorded a top speed of approximately 61 knots (speed not verified or registered on any onboard instrumentation) during a 45 knot gust of wind. This heavy gust of wind overpowered the sailboat, causing it to

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is Turtling (sailing), upside down in the water. The act of reco ...

at high speed. The crew sustained only minor injuries.61 knots for l'Hydroptère
/ref> "Sovereign of the Seas", 1852, 258 ft, the fastest and longest ship yet built when she was launched in New York, designed and built by Donald Mackay, America's foremost clipper designer. On her maiden voyage, she sailed New York to San Francisco in 103 days. This ship achieved the fastest ever recorded speed of a sailing vessel (22 knots).

Notable people

Farrel O'Shea Farrel O'Shea (3 August 1963 – 2 June 2024) was a British professional Windsurfing, windsurfer. He holds the British speed sailing record for all sail powered craft, as recognised by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. Originally from W ...

(born 1963), former professional

windsurfer Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

Notes

External links and references

records on 500m
on the

site
records on 1 nautical mile
on the

site
L'Hydroptère record at 51,36 knots, 4 September 2009, on YoutubeVestas Sailrocket siteBanque Populaire V site
{{Offshore sailing races Sailing records