A world record has already been achieved in the first leg of the gruelling Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round the World Race) by Sweden’s Ericsson 4 team. The yacht managed to achieve smashing the previous 24-hour monohull distance record by travelling an astounding 589 miles (1,085km) in the journey from Alicante in Spain to Cape Town in South Africa. The previous record was 562.97 miles and was set by ABN Amro 2 in January 2006 in the
Indian Ocean.
The Ericsson 4, looks set to enjoy a healthy lead as the race reaches Cape Town, currently leading by 30miles ahead of the US Puma Racing team and could even break the record again with the prevailing weather conditions. The race is due to take in 10 legs encompassing Africa, Asia, the Americas and finally Europe before finishing in St Petersburg after covering 42,600 miles.
Some information courtesy of ChannelNews Asia.