Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Speed Record

Ballyholme Yacht Club on the south shore of Belfast Lough will be the start point for a record-breaking trip across the North Channel to Portpatrick on the Mull of Galloway in Scotland during the week beginning 25th September.

Team GB Olympic silver medallists and World and European Champions in the Olympic Foiling Nacra17, John Gimson and Anna Burnett, will arrive at the club on Sunday 24th September.

In association with Artemis Foiling Technology, a zero-carbon passenger ferry that is being developed in Belfast, they will make an attempt at a record.

RYA UK and Artemis aim to have any achievement recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

John Gimson and Anna Burnett won world silver sailing medals at August's Allianz Sailing World Championships Photo: Sander van der Borch John Gimson and Anna Burnett won world silver sailing medals at August's Allianz Sailing World Championships Photo: Sander van der Borch 

The record stands at 1hr 41 mins 28 secs held by Ian Wilson and the late Johnny Mullan of Ballyholme Yacht Club in a Tornado catamaran in 1995. Richard Swanston, also of BYC holds the single-handed record of 1hr 50mins. He still sails a Multihull. And last year, Rob Espey sailed the crossing in a Waszp in 1 hour 30min, but it hadn’t been verified. 

The trophy was donated by the late Bill Wallace’s family. Bill, Vera and their children, Heather, John and Peter all sailed a Dart 18.

The crossing is made complicated and dangerous with strong tidal influences on both sides of the channel, creating steep, difficult wave formations.

The foiling spectacular Nacra17 is capable of speed more than 25 knots, so if John and Anna can keep control, the record could fall.

Reaching 80 knots (150 km/h) in sailing, beating the current record set at 65,45 knots and hence becoming the fastest on water in 2022: therein lies the objective of the SP80 project. The young Lausanne team has been testing a reduced-scale prototype of the boat on Lake Geneva since June. The first results, revealed for the first time in video, are promising!

A year ago, SP80 unveiled the design of its boat to beat the World Sailing Speed Record. Today the team, composed of more than forty engineers and students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), conducts test after test on Lake Geneva with a prototype scaled down to 1⁄2 of the final boat. The launch of this prototype, with dimensions 4,5 by 3,5 meters, constitutes a key stage of development in the race for the record. It enables the team to validate certain concepts and start the optimization process in anticipation of the construction of the final boat which will begin in 2021.

A dozen tests have already been carried out and the results, presented in the video, are very conclusive for the team. They validate the latest simulations and demonstrate the stability and control of the boat at high speeds. These qualities, indispensable for the record, were notably attainable because of a mechanical stabilization system invented and patented by SP80.

Published in News Update
Tagged under

The MOD 70 Oman Sail, a giant trimaran will attempt to break the non-stop Round Ireland Speed sailing record starting in two days time. As previously reported Ireland's Damian Foxall confirmed to Afloat.ie this morning the bid to beat the 20-year record held by the late Steve Fossett's Lakota will more than likley start off the Kish lighhouse on Dublin Bay. 

The professional crew are out to beat the one day, 20 hour and 42 minute record that has stood since 1993. To do it they must average more than 15.84 knots for the entire 700-mile voyage.

Foxall and a five man crew led by France's Sidney Gavigonet can opt to circumnavigate the country in either direction. The crew expect to encounter 40–knot winds for a time after the start according to the latest forecasts for the Irish Sea on Thursday.

According to the world speed record council (WSSR) there is only one record for whatever direction the multihull takes so she may sail north or southabout around Ireland.

Under WSS rule 20d the the only approved starting/finishing line is: Dun Laoghaire: between the light on the south pier: 53° 18.1' N; 6° 07.6' W and Kish Lighthouse: 53° 18.7' N ; 5° 55.5' W

The course must enclose the whole of Ireland and the following islands or rocks:Rathlin Is, Tor Rocks and Gulf Is, Tory Is, Eagle Is, Tearaght Is, Great Skellig, Fastnet Rock, Coningbeg Rock, Tuskar Rock.

 

Published in Offshore

The 100ft Canting Keel Maxi Leopard 3 has broken its own record for a 24-hour run, covering 495 nautical miles. The previous record stood at 466.4NM.

The record is in a special category for craft with powered winches, and doesn't come close to some of the other records on boats where humans work the lines by hand.

The monohull record outright is still held by Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 team who covered 596.6nm at an average speed of  24.85 knots during the last Volvo Ocean Race.

Frenchman Thomas Coville blasted through 628.5 nautical miles in 24 hours on his 105ft trimaran Sodebo, averaging 26.2 knots in the process.

But the absolute mac daddy of them all is held by Pascal Bidegorry in his monstrous 131ft trimaran Banque Populaire 5. Bidegorry travelled 908.2 nautical miles in one day, and with an average of 37.84 knots you can only imagine what his top speed was.

 

The World Sailing Speed Record Council announces the ratification of a new World Record for ICAP Leopard.

Record: Monohull. 24 hours under rule 21.c 
Yacht: ICAP Leopard. 100ft Monohull 
Name: Mike Slade and 20 crew 
Dates: 31st May to the 1st June 2010. 
Start time: 05.00; 31/05/10 
Finish time: 05.00; 01/06/10 
Elapsed time: 24 hours 
Distance: 495.1 NM 
Average speed: 20.6 kts 
Comments: Previous record: 466.4nm 19.4 kts. May 08 Leopard. Mike Slade GBR

Published in News Update

Howth Yacht Club information

Howth Yacht Club is the largest members sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members. The club welcomes inquiries about membership - see top of this page for contact details.

Howth Yacht Club (HYC) is 125 years old. It operates from its award-winning building overlooking Howth Harbour that houses office, bar, dining, and changing facilities. Apart from the Clubhouse, HYC has a 250-berth marina, two cranes and a boat storage area. In addition. its moorings in the harbour are serviced by launch.

The Club employs up to 31 staff during the summer and is the largest employer in Howth village and has a turnover of €2.2m.

HYC normally provides an annual programme of club racing on a year-round basis as well as hosting a full calendar of International, National and Regional competitive events. It operates a fleet of two large committee boats, 9 RIBs, 5 J80 Sportboats, a J24 and a variety of sailing dinghies that are available for members and training. The Club is also growing its commercial activities afloat using its QUEST sail and power boat training operation while ashore it hosts a wide range of functions each year, including conferences, weddings, parties and the like.

Howth Yacht Club originated as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. In 1968 Howth Sailing Club combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club. The new clubhouse was opened in 1987 with further extensions carried out and more planned for the future including dredging and expanded marina facilities.

HYC caters for sailors of all ages and run sailing courses throughout the year as part of being an Irish Sailing accredited training facility with its own sailing school.

The club has a fully serviced marina with berthing for 250 yachts and HYC is delighted to be able to welcome visitors to this famous and scenic area of Dublin.

New applications for membership are always welcome

Howth Yacht Club FAQs

Howth Yacht Club is one of the most storied in Ireland — celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020 — and has an active club sailing and racing scene to rival those of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs on the other side of Dublin Bay.

Howth Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Howth, a suburban coastal village in north Co Dublin on the northern side of the Howth Head peninsula. The village is around 13km east-north-east of Dublin city centre and has a population of some 8,200.

Howth Yacht Club was founded as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. Howth Sailing Club later combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the village’s West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Ian Byrne, with Paddy Judge as Vice-Commodore (Clubhouse and Administration). The club has two Rear-Commodores, Neil Murphy for Sailing and Sara Lacy for Junior Sailing, Training & Development.

Howth Yacht Club says it has one of the largest sailing memberships in Ireland and the UK; an exact number could not be confirmed as of November 2020.

Howth Yacht Club’s burgee is a vertical-banded pennant of red, white and red with a red anchor at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue-grey field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and red anchor towards the bottom right corner.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has an active junior section.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club hosts sailing and powerboat training for adults, juniors and corporate sailing under the Quest Howth brand.

Among its active keelboat and dinghy fleets, Howth Yacht Club is famous for being the home of the world’s oldest one-design racing keelboat class, the Howth Seventeen Footer. This still-thriving class of boat was designed by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 to be sailed in the local waters off Howth. The original five ‘gaff-rigged topsail’ boats that came to the harbour in the spring of 1898 are still raced hard from April until November every year along with the other 13 historical boats of this class.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has a fleet of five J80 keelboats for charter by members for training, racing, organised events and day sailing.

The current modern clubhouse was the product of a design competition that was run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in 1983. The winning design by architects Vincent Fitzgerald and Reg Chandler was built and completed in March 1987. Further extensions have since been made to the building, grounds and its own secure 250-berth marina.

Yes, the Howth Yacht Club clubhouse offers a full bar and lounge, snug bar and coffee bar as well as a 180-seat dining room. Currently, the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Catering remains available on weekends, take-home and delivery menus for Saturday night tapas and Sunday lunch.

The Howth Yacht Club office is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Contact the club for current restaurant opening hours at [email protected] or phone 01 832 0606.

Yes — when hosting sailing events, club racing, coaching and sailing courses, entertaining guests and running evening entertainment, tuition and talks, the club caters for all sorts of corporate, family and social occasions with a wide range of meeting, event and function rooms. For enquiries contact [email protected] or phone 01 832 2141.

Howth Yacht Club has various categories of membership, each affording the opportunity to avail of all the facilities at one of Ireland’s finest sailing clubs.

No — members can join active crews taking part in club keelboat and open sailing events, not to mention Pay & Sail J80 racing, charter sailing and more.

Fees range from €190 to €885 for ordinary members.
Memberships are renewed annually.

©Afloat 2020