An Irish crew onboard the Volvo 70 Tschuss 2 has broken Sweden's Gotland Runt Offshore Race speed record in what is s the world's largest annual ocean race.
Ireland's Johnny Mordaunt, Simon Johnson, Cian Guilfoyle and Sonia Zugel were onboard the boat in the record breaking run that may yet lead to an overall win on handicap too.
The Gotland Runt Offshore Race course is some 350 nautical miles long and was first sailed in 1937.
Organisers posted on Instagram (translated): "At 15:27:35 Tschuss II crossed the finish line and has thus broken the speed record with a new average speed of 13.57 knots around Gotland!"
The race took 24 hours, 27 minutes, and 35 seconds.
The previous record of 13.01 knots was set in 2019 by VO65 HiQ.
VO70 Tschuss II sailed under the American flag, with a highly experienced crew, many of whom have sailed around the world multiple times. The skipper for the race was Johnny Mordaunt and one of the crew members where the renowned local Swedish sailor Magnus Woxen. "Being part of this team during the race has been really good, as the majority of the crew are professional sailors. Everyone has done a fantastic job, and we had great conditions apart from the rain at the start," commented Magnus Woxen when the crew came ashore.
The 2024 edition is ongoing in the 180-boat race that sees slower competitors still at sea. The fastest monohull on handicap is deemed the overall winner. Tchuss's corrected time, as the current clubhouse leader, is one day, 17 hours, 56 minutes and 54 seconds.
As regular Afloat readers will recall, Christian Zugel's Tschuss 2 – again with Irish crew onboard – broke the Round the Isle of Wight sailing speed record in April.
