American skipper Lloyd Thornburg has set a new Round Ireland speed sailing record in his 70–foot trimaran Phaedo 3 just a month after a new record was made by rival MOD 70 Oman Sail. Phaedo 3, with Ireland's leading offshore sailor Damian Foxall on board, crossed the Kish lighthouse finish line at Dún Laoghaire, at 04.01.04am this morning (Friday, 5th August 2016), beating the previous world record by approximately 1 hours and 45 minutes. The time has still to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council.
Thornburg and his crew, including Ireland’s Damian Foxall, set off from Dún Laoghaire on Wednesday at 15.09.00 returning 36 hours and 52 minutes later.
The previous world record of 38 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds was set by Musandam Oman-Sail in last June’s Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race.
The latest record comes just weeks after Lloyd and his Phaedo 3 crew won the Round Island Race in the UK, smashing Sir Ben Ainslie’s record, and setting a new record of just 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, for round the Isle of Wight.
Round Ireland Phaedo 3 Record breakers celebrate at Dun Laoghaire marina. Photo: Rachel Fallon Langdon
Back ashore at Dun Laoghaire, Thornburg said the crew was exhausted but it was worth every second. “You really appreciate how beautiful this island is when you see it from the coast-side. The first time we came here was when we took part in the Volvo Round Ireland Yacht race last June. We had to come back and do it again and setting a new world record made it all the more worthwhile. It was intense but we’d do it again tomorrow, and we will be back!”
Celebrations will be short-lived however as Lloyd and the crew will be heading straight to the UK for the 2016 Cowes regatta, which kicks off tomorrow, Saturday.
The record-setting crew on board for the record were: Lloyd Thornburg - helm, Brian Thompson - Co-Skipper, Miles Seddon - Navigator, Damian Foxall - Bow, Paul Allen - Trim, Sam Goodchild - Trim, Henry Bomby - Grinder, Fletcher Kennedy - Grinder
Phaedo 3, hitting speeds of over 30–knots, made spectacular time covering two thirds of the northabout voyage from Dublin in a record time but things slowed dramatically in the closing stages yesterday evening when speeds dropped after rounding Tuskar Rock. Speeds as low as three knots brought the tri home past the Wexford coast and the estimated midnight arrival time slipped by with no finisher. Thornburg entered Dublin Bay at 4am, cutting things quite fine at the end.
Although the Round Ireland speed sailing record stood for nearly 22 years, clearly something very special indeed is happening in the Record Breaking Dept in 2015/16 when it is broken three times in little over a year.
Sidney Gavignet and the skipper of Oman Sail broke the 44–hour time set by Steve Fossett's 60ft trimaran Lakota in 1993 that withstood several challenges, including three by top French skipper Gavignet.
The OmanSail MOD 70 finally broke it with a time of just over forty hours in May 2015. Gavignet was back on Irish waters a year later as part of June's three–way MOD division of the Round Ireland Race. With some very exciting sailing on the 700–mile route, he broke his own record with a new sub 40–hour time of just over 38 hours.
Now that the Omani/French record has fallen to an American entry, how long will it be before another attempt is made at what is a very international dimension to Irish sailing?
