Sailing: Barely a year ago, celebrations abounded following the success of Steve Fossett and his team on Cheyenne, the maxi-catamaran that smashed the world record for circumnavigating the globe in under two months.
On board, Irish sailors Damian Foxall and Justin Slattery played key roles and returned to Ireland as heroes and received national acclaim rarely accorded to our yachtsmen and women. But this week sees their achievement consigned to the history books as their record took a tumble, this time by a full week, set by Bruno Peyron and his crew on Orange II, another giant multihull.
The record now stands at 50 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes and four seconds and was achieved at an average speed of 22.2 knots. The time is ahead of Cheyenne's by seven days, 17 hours, 12 minutes and 41 seconds.
The achievement also puts to rest the row over the Jules Verne Trophy that Fossett opted out of last year as he objected to the high entry cost. He beat that record then but Peyron's outright time as a member of the trophy competition entitles him to claim it having sliced 12 days, 21 hours, 39 minutes and 42 seconds off Olivier de Kersauson's time on Geronimo, the previous Jules Verne trophy holder.
Orange II awaits the ratification of the World Speed Sailing Record Council but can certainly expect to be named the fastest ocean-going yacht in the world thanks to a record 24-hour sailing run of 706.20 miles. Amongst the highs and lows of the circumnavigation were: the worst day: 166 miles, on March 9th, off Cape Verde; number of days above 600 miles: 12; maximum lead over Cheyenne's time: 10 days, March 3rd; two other intermediary records in the process of being certified by the WSSRC include best time from the equator to the equator and the fastest crossings of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
As the maxi-cat reached the finishing line off Ushant on Wednesday morning, the SSW force six wind sped maxi-catamaran along at 28 knots just half a mile off the coast but robbed race followers of the excitement due to a 0200 hours finishing time.
Meanwhile, as the challenge of a sub-50 day record beckons the next generation of giant racing machines, Foxall is once again crossing the south Atlantic in the closing stages of the Oryx Quest circumnavigation race.
Based out of Qatar, the multi-million dollar competition attracted four maxi multihulls whose age has become readily apparent.
Ironically, both Cheyenne and Geronimo have pulled out of this race due to a variety of problems. But Foxall is racing on Doha 2006 and enjoys a comfortable lead as they enter the Indian Ocean this weekend some 3,500 miles ahead on Tony Bullimore's Daedelus.
