24-Hour Record Smashed

With a new generation of Volvo 70s racing around the globe in this year’s Volvo Ocean Race, the consensus had been that the 24-hour monohull speed record set in the last edition would fall — it was only a question of when. The ‘when’ turned out to be earlier today as the crew of Torben Grael’s Ericsson 4 turned in a 594.2-mile 24 hours, while pushing to stay in a front that could carry them all the way to Cape Town.

While putting up an average speed of 24.7 knots, Ericsson 4 also managed to put 27 miles between it and Ken Read’s Puma — all this despite being a man down after watch captain Tony Mutter was dropped off in the Cape Verde Islands a week ago with a severely infected knee. The previous record of 562.9 miles was set by ABN AMRO 2 in the last race.