John Kostecki and the crew of the Volvo 60 illbruck, a Farr design currently leading the Volvo fleet on points and on the transatlantic Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race, have claimed a new 24-hour speed record. According to a release from the Farr Yacht Design office, Kostecki and his team sailed the green and white 60-foot monohull 473 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 19.708 knots. This claim tops the 467.7-mile record set by Bernard Stamm and the crew of the Open 60 Armor Lux, set in 2001 during a record New York to England Transatlantic passage.
The new record is still provisional, pending review by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. http://www.volvooceanrace.org, http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/