546.6 miles in 24 hours: a new monohull solo sailing world record has been set in the Vend\u00e9e Globe by Nico Lunven on the IMOCA Holcim-PRB
\nNicolas Lunven, skipper of the IMOCA Holcim-PRB has set a new 24-hour record for a single-handed monohull (pending official certification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council).
\nLunven has covered an incredible 546.6 miles in 24 hours sailing solo in the Vend\u00e9e Globe.
\nThis breaks the previous record set by fellow Vend\u00e9e Globe entrant Thomas Ruyant of 539.58nm, during the Retour \u00e0 la Base race earlier this year (an average speed of 22.48kts).
\nNico Lunven on Holcim-PRB has set a new 24-hour solo sailing record in the Vend\u00e9e Globe. Photo: Adrien Nivet \/ Polaryse
\nNico Lunven: bold navigator
\nNico Lunven is taking part in his first Vend\u00e9e Globe and is currently ranked 5th in the 40-boat fleet.
\nKnown for his navigation and routing expertise, in the early stages of the Vend\u00e9e Globe, Lunven confidently took a radical westerly route.
\nOn the second night of the race, which started on Sunday 10 November, he split away from the fleet at Cap Finistere, sailing some 180 miles further north-west than the boats which went inside the TSS zone off the Galician coast.
\nNico Lunven took a westerly route with Holcim-PRB which rewarded him with a long, fast run south at record page.
\nThis bold move was rewarded with a 550-mile straight line speed run south in north-easterlies. While his rivals had to contend with a series of gybes off the Portuguese coast, Lunven\u2019s approach reduced manoeuvres \u2013 and risk in 30-plus knots \u2013 preserving both him and the boat while enabling him to clock the highest mileage of the fleet.
\nNico Lunven is competing in his first Vend\u00e9e Globe
\nFastest IMOCA in the world
\nHolcim-PRB is a Verdier-designed IMOCA that had originally been created as a fully crewed boat for The Ocean Race. However, when that team\u2019s plans fell through mid-build, PRB bought the partially constructed hull at Carrington\u2019s in the UK in 2022.
\nMajor modifications were made almost immediately \u2013 including sawing off around 4.5m of bow and rebuilding it with a shallower section designed for more offwind and all-round performance.
\nThe original Ocean Race route had included some long upwind legs to China, which were later scrapped, so the boat was re-optimised for the predominantly downwind Vend\u00e9e Globe, as well as the long Southern Ocean leg of the 2022 Ocean Race.
\nHolcim-PRB also set a crewed record on The Ocean Race.
\nHolcim-PRB has now become the fastest IMOCA in the fleet, also holding the crewed 24-hour distance record. Former skipper Kevin Escoffier and crew covered 640.48 miles in the fifth leg of The Ocean Race in 2023, at an average speed of 26.68 knots.
\n(In the same leg, Boris Herrmann\u2019s Malizia clocked 640.70 NM \u2013 so a longer distance, but not by a sufficient margin to set a new record, according to WSSRC rules. Lunven was part of that crew also.)
\nVend\u00e9e Globe Day 3 leaders
\nLunven is currently in 5th place on day 3 of the 2024 Vend\u00e9e Globe.
\nThe current leader is Yoann Richomme (Paprec Ark\u00e9a), just 12 miles ahead of Charlie Dalin (Macif), from British \u2018rookie\u2019 and yesterday\u2019s leader Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) in 3rd. J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou (Charal) is 4th.
\nThe post New solo sailing world record: Vend\u00e9e skipper covers incredible 546 miles in 24 hours appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
546.6 miles in 24 hours: a new monohull solo sailing world record has been set in the Vend\u00e9e Globe by Nico Lunven on the IMOCA Holcim-PRB Nicolas Lunven, skipper of the IMOCA Holcim-PRB has set a new 24-hour record for … <\/p>\n