Speed sailing
Encyclopedia
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 International Sailing Federation
to confirm speed records
of sailing crafts (boats or sailboards) on water (not on ice or land).
boat layout. Recent developments include hulls that rely on hydrofoil
s or planing hulls, which allow the hull to lift out of the water, and thereby increases speed by reducing friction. An example of a multihull
hydrofoil
design is the Hydroptère
, designed by Alain Thébault
. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with the late Eric Tabarly
since the 1990s. On September 4, 2009, l’Hydroptère broke the world record
, sustaining a speed of 51.36 knots for 500m in 30 knots of wind.
Throughout 1970s, the speed sailing 500 meter and Nautical Mile records were dominated by large multihulls, as typified by the Crossbow and Crossbow II of Timothy Colman
. This has changed since to smaller, very lightweight boats. The Yellow Pages Endeavour
, a highly optimized one-way proa
design using a rigid wingsail
lost its decade old 1993 500m record to a windsurfer in 2004. This was followed by frequently changing records, with windsurfers holding the records the record through 2008, when it was taken by a succession of kitesurfers. In 2009, in a radical shift away from the tiny surfboard based craft, the trimaran
Hydroptère, with a length of 18.28 meters and a displacement of 6.5 metric tons, took the 500m speed record back for the D class boats.
who holds the windsurfing speed record (on a 500 metre course) with a speed of 49.09 knots (92 km/h) on the purpose built Saintes Marie de la Mer canal
in Southern France. The previous record of 48.7 knots was held by Finian Maynard
, an Irish born windsurfer who sails for the British Virgin Islands who achieved this speed on 10 April 2005 on the same purpose built canal. Windsurfers are not as efficient as the larger boats used in record attempts. Albeau's 49.09 knot record was set in winds of 45 to 50 knots, while the Yellow Pages Endeavour, which held a record of 46.52 knots from 1993 to 2004, was optimized to sail in a 19 knot wind. Venue has much to do with the windsurfer's success, as all windsurfing 500m records since 1988 have been made at the same canal. Zara Davis
holds the outright nautical mile record for a woman. Set in Walvis Bay Namibia an open water venue in November 2006 previous record was held by Valerie Ghibaudo of France
in Namibia
. On October 4, 2008 frenchman Alex Caizergues, also using a kite, broke this record with a 50.57 knots run. Earlier in the event, on September 19, kitesurfer Robert Douglas
(USA) made a 49.84 knots (92.30 km/h) run, becoming the first kitesurfer to establish an outright speed sailing world record – held until that date only by sailboats or windsurfers. Douglas also became the world's third over-50 knots sailor,
when on September 8 he made a 50.54 knots (93.60 km/h) run. The current speed record over a 500 meter
(1,640 ft) course for a kiteboard, officially ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council
, is 55.65 kts, held by Robert Douglas
, and set in Luderitz, Namibia in October 2010.
" trimaran
, Pascal Bidegorry & crew of 11; date: August 2009; distance: 907.9 nm, 37.83 kts.
, Thomas Coville; date: December 2008; distance: 628.5 nm; average speed: 26.19 kts.
and a crew of 8; date: 29/30 October 2008; distance: 602.66 nm; average speed: 25.11 kts.
; Alex Thomson
; date: 6/7 December 2007; distance: 500.01 nm; average speed: 20.83 kts.
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
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
World Sailing Speed Record Council
The World Sailing Speed Record Council, founded in 1972, is the body authorized by the International Sailing Federation to confirm speed records of sailing crafts on water . In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres...
is the body authorized by the International Sailing Federation
International Sailing Federation
The International Sailing Federation is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing body for the sport of sailing....
to confirm speed records
Speed sailing record
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council . Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval...
of sailing crafts (boats or sailboards) on water (not on ice or land).
Sailing craft used
The craft used vary from single sailor windsurfers or kitesurfers, to multi-hulls with crews of fifteen people. Many short course record attempts are made with boats based on the classic proaProa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...
boat layout. Recent developments include hulls that rely on hydrofoil
Sailing hydrofoil
A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed...
s or planing hulls, which allow the hull to lift out of the water, and thereby increases speed by reducing friction. An example of a multihull
Multihull
A multihull is a ship, vessel, craft or boat with more than one hull.-Description:Multihulls include: Proas, which have two differently shaped or sized hulls with lateral symmetry; catamarans, which have two hulls with longitudinal symmetry; and trimarans, which have a main hull in the center and...
hydrofoil
Hydrofoil
A hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
design is the Hydroptère
Hydroptère
The Hydroptère is an experimental sailing hydrofoil designed by French yachtsman Alain Thébault. Her multihull hydrofoil design allows the sail-powered vessel to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with...
, designed by Alain Thébault
Alain Thébault
Alain Thébault is a French yachtsman and skipper of l'Hydroptère.With Éric Tabarly, he participated in the conception of a multihull on hydrofoils, named l'Hydroptère, with a team of engineers, many of them from the aeronautics industry.The project started in 1975 and a model on a one-third scale...
. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with the late Eric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly
Éric Tabarly was a notable French yachtsman.A former officer in the French navy who is often considered the father of French yachting....
since the 1990s. On September 4, 2009, l’Hydroptère broke the world record
Speed sailing record
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council . Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval...
, sustaining a speed of 51.36 knots for 500m in 30 knots of wind.
Throughout 1970s, the speed sailing 500 meter and Nautical Mile records were dominated by large multihulls, as typified by the Crossbow and Crossbow II of Timothy Colman
Timothy Colman
Sir Timothy James Alan Colman KG is a British businessman and a previous Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1996. He is married to Lady Mary Colman , niece of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and lives in Bixley Manor near Norwich.Sir Timothy is...
. This has changed since to smaller, very lightweight boats. The Yellow Pages Endeavour
Yellow Pages Endeavour
The Yellow Pages Endeavour, or YPE, is an Australian sailboat designed for speed sailing, which held the outright 500 meter world record from October, 1993 to November, 2004, when it was taken by windsurfer Finian Maynard; the YPE still holds the C class record...
, a highly optimized one-way proa
Proa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...
design using a rigid wingsail
Wingsail
A wingsail is a form of marine propulsion similar to conventional sails. However, a wingsail is a built-up structure with airfoil cross-section, like an airplane wing, which shape can provide a much better lift-to-drag ratio than conventional sails....
lost its decade old 1993 500m record to a windsurfer in 2004. This was followed by frequently changing records, with windsurfers holding the records the record through 2008, when it was taken by a succession of kitesurfers. In 2009, in a radical shift away from the tiny surfboard based craft, the trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...
Hydroptère, with a length of 18.28 meters and a displacement of 6.5 metric tons, took the 500m speed record back for the D class boats.
Windsurfing
Antoine AlbeauAntoine Albeau
Antoine Albeau is a French windsurfer who holds eleven Windsurfing World Championships in different disciplines since 1994.Born on June 17, 1972 in La Rochelle, France, Albeau set a new all–category world windpowered sailing speed record on March 5, 2008 with 49.09 knots on a 500 meter course at...
who holds the windsurfing speed record (on a 500 metre course) with a speed of 49.09 knots (92 km/h) on the purpose built Saintes Marie de la Mer canal
The Canal
The Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal, known to windsurfers as The Canal, is a man-made trench near the French Mediterranean coastal town Saintes Maries de la Mer, built especially for speed record breaking sailing by windsurfers....
in Southern France. The previous record of 48.7 knots was held by Finian Maynard
Finian Maynard
Finian Maynard is a six-time speed windsurfing world champion and held the absolute 500m sailing speed record for sailing vessels from late 2004 until early 2008....
, an Irish born windsurfer who sails for the British Virgin Islands who achieved this speed on 10 April 2005 on the same purpose built canal. Windsurfers are not as efficient as the larger boats used in record attempts. Albeau's 49.09 knot record was set in winds of 45 to 50 knots, while the Yellow Pages Endeavour, which held a record of 46.52 knots from 1993 to 2004, was optimized to sail in a 19 knot wind. Venue has much to do with the windsurfer's success, as all windsurfing 500m records since 1988 have been made at the same canal. Zara Davis
Zara Davis
Zara Davis is an English windsurfer. She holds the World Women’s Nautical Mile speed record for a sailing vessel...
holds the outright nautical mile record for a woman. Set in Walvis Bay Namibia an open water venue in November 2006 previous record was held by Valerie Ghibaudo of France
Kitesurfing
Frenchman kitesurfer Sebastien Cattelan became the first sailor to break the 50 knots barrier with 50.26 knots on October 3, 2008 at the Lüderitz Speed ChallengeLüderitz Speed Challenge
The Lüderitz Speed Challenge is an annual speed sailing event, held since 2007 in Lüderitz, Namibia, in the southern hemisphere spring. The event is organised by ESF Events, managed and owned by Frederic Dasse and French kitesurfer Sebastien Cattelan, and is observed by the World Sailing Speed...
in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. On October 4, 2008 frenchman Alex Caizergues, also using a kite, broke this record with a 50.57 knots run. Earlier in the event, on September 19, kitesurfer Robert Douglas
Robert Douglas
Robert Douglas may refer to:*Robert Douglas , minister in the Church of Scotland*Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, , Scottish-born field-marshal in the Swedish army*Robert Douglas , , Scottish prelate...
(USA) made a 49.84 knots (92.30 km/h) run, becoming the first kitesurfer to establish an outright speed sailing world record – held until that date only by sailboats or windsurfers. Douglas also became the world's third over-50 knots sailor,
when on September 8 he made a 50.54 knots (93.60 km/h) run. The current speed record over a 500 meter
Speed sailing record
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council . Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval...
(1,640 ft) course for a kiteboard, officially ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council
World Sailing Speed Record Council
The World Sailing Speed Record Council, founded in 1972, is the body authorized by the International Sailing Federation to confirm speed records of sailing crafts on water . In the early years the council only dealt with claims of speed records on a one-way leg of 500 metres...
, is 55.65 kts, held by Robert Douglas
Robert Douglas
Robert Douglas may refer to:*Robert Douglas , minister in the Church of Scotland*Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, , Scottish-born field-marshal in the Swedish army*Robert Douglas , , Scottish prelate...
, and set in Luderitz, Namibia in October 2010.
Longest distance run in 24 hours
The records for the longest distance sailed within 24 hours are also recorded by the WSSRC. There are different categories:Any yacht, any number of crew
Boat: "Banque Populaire VBanque Populaire V
The offshore-racing trimaran Banque Populaire V is Team Banque Populaire's fifth boat designed to set oceanic records. She was launched on October 4, 2008 in Nantes, France....
" trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...
, Pascal Bidegorry & crew of 11; date: August 2009; distance: 907.9 nm, 37.83 kts.
Any yacht, single-handed
Boat: "Sodeb'O", trimaranTrimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...
, Thomas Coville; date: December 2008; distance: 628.5 nm; average speed: 26.19 kts.
Monohull, any number of crew
Boat: "Ericsson 4", 70-feet-VOR (second generation); crew: Torben GraelTorben Grael
Torben Schmidt Grael is one of the most well known Brazilian sailors, renowned in international competitions. A descendant of Danes, he was taken sailing by his grandfather at five years old on the sailboat Aileen, of the extinct 6 meter class, which was the boat used by the silver medal winning...
and a crew of 8; date: 29/30 October 2008; distance: 602.66 nm; average speed: 25.11 kts.
Monohull, single-handed
Boat: Hugo Boss, Open 60International Monohull Open Classes Association
The International Monohull Open Class Association is an international association within the sport of sailing which administers the monohull class of sailboats...
; Alex Thomson
Alex Thomson (sailor)
Alex Thomson is a British yachter.Alex Thomson was helped early in his sailing career by Sir Keith Mills, the British businessman who ran London's victorious bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and set up with British America’s Cup campaign TEAMORIGIN...
; date: 6/7 December 2007; distance: 500.01 nm; average speed: 20.83 kts.