97-year-old sailing record broken

Windrose's best 24-hour run was 325 miles

LONDON, England -- The 46.3-metre (152 foot) schooner Windrose has taken more than 17 hours off a 97-year-old transatlantic record from New Jersey to Cornwall, England.

The original record was set in the New York Yacht Club's 1905 Transatlantic Race by the legendary America's Cup skipper Charlie Barr in the 62-metre (187 ft) three-masted schooner Atlantic.

Windrose, designed by Gerry Dijkstra and built by Holland Jachtbouw in 2001, made the crossing in 11 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes and 10 seconds. Barr made the crossing in 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds.

Windrose had been scheduled to compete in the New York Yacht Club Rolex Transatlantic Challenge this June, but the race was cancelled after the September attacks.

The owner of Windrose decided to make another attempt on the record and enabled the 56-metre (187 ft) three-masted schooner Adix to join in and Dutch sports clothing manufacturer Gaastra to put up the Transatlantic Schooner Cup.

Windrose and Adix crossed the start line off the Ambrose Light Tower, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on May 10.

At the start the two boats were forced south of their route by adverse winds, but then a series of depressions caught up with them and blew them all the way to the finish on Tuesday in Lizard Light, England. Adix finished six hours behind Windrose.

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Dutch skipper Simon Dierdorb said they had over five days of gales with the wind blowing between 40 and 50 knots.

Windrose's best 24-hour run was 325 miles and she exceeded 300-mile runs for five days in a row.

"We blew out two sails in the storms. We had to push hard as Adix was pressing us all the time and was less than 60 miles behind us at the finish," Dierdorb said.

Dierdorb, with a crew of 26, had particular praise for Adix's skipper Paul Goss. "It is incredible, they were sailing a 187-foot three-masted schooner in those conditions with just the regular crew of 14."

The schooner record has remained one of the last and most elusive of the transatlantic records. It was only in 1980 that Atlantic's 1905 record was first broken by French yachtsman Eric Tabarly in the 17-metre (55 ft) foil borne trimaran Paul Ricard in 10 days and 5 hours.

The outright transatlantic sailing record was set by American Steve Fossett in late 2001 in the 38-metre (125 ft) catamaran PlayStation in an incredible time of 4 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes at an average speed of 25.78 knots.

"After such a hard crossing you have to be in awe of Charlie Barr and his crew who raced without any modern sailing aides in 1905," Dierdorb said.