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24 hours record
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| 24 hours sailing record: a daily distance |
| At the clipper's golden age, these three mast sailing ship used a little more than a century ago to carry passengers and merchandise
between Europe, America and Asia, the log books related a covered distance of 300 miles daily ... Today, the new giant multihulls
come close to 800 miles covered in 24 hours!
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Record time : 2006, 766, 8 miles on board Orange 2 (FRA), a 36,60m catamaran (Bruno Peyron)
In the eighties, years of disproportion, multihulls over twenty-four meters were built for the new trans-Atlantic race between
Québec and St-Malo. But the sailing world was not yet focused on speed records. During the Columbus Route in 1984, the Canadian
Mike Birch and his crew reached a daily distance of over 500 miles on board Formule Tag. The 24 hours distance speed record
was launched...
The new millennium brought a new record with over 600 miles covered in 24 hours on board Club
Med. In 2004, 700 miles is reached by Orange II. During their North Atlantic crossing in 2006, Bruno Peyron and
his crew improved the record with 766,8 miles, current reference distance with an average speed of 31,95 knots. The
challenge for Groupama 3 is to cover over 800 miles in 24 hours, that is to say an average speed of 33, 33 knots, more than
possible with favourable wind and sea conditions.
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Weather conditions Reference 24 hours distance: 766, 8 miles
Most of the 24 hours records were carried out during oceanic crossings.
Skippers rarely dedicate a specific navigation to this record, except for Yvan Bourgnon who, in July 2006, broke the
24 hours distance record solo with 610, 45 miles on board his 60 foot trimaran. The ideal weather conditions to break this
record are simple: a new and fast stable wind of 25 to 30 knots on a steady sea in downwind conditions, at around 60°-80°
off the apparent wind. Thus, the most favourable zones are the ones with trade winds, to benefit from a steady sea and a brief
compression of the isobars. A weather situation found during summer off the Bay of Biscay, when a high is building between
Cape Finisterre and the Azores, with a North-eastern wind. Also found along Portugal coast with a steady eastbound cycle,
and between Canary Island and Cape Verde Archipelago in autumn, when the trade winds settle. This kind of weather situation
may occur in certain windsurfing spots in Mozambique or Hawaii, as well as during Asian monsoons or in the Pacific.
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