A group of British engineers designed a 112-foot catamaran that will attempt to break a record by crossing the Atlantic in 48 hours on one tank of gas.
Led by businessman Richard George, the team designing the boat for the 3,100-mile trip said it also will be capable of carrying commercial passengers.
The $22 million boat will have a seven-man crew and will attempt to make the trip between Cornwall and New York at an average speed of 65 mph, according to the [U.K] Daily Mail.
The current record for the crossing is two days, 10 hours and 54 minutes, which the Aga Khan’s 220-foot powerboat Destriero set in 1992.
George, the project leader of Team Great Britain, said he hopes his new carbon-fiber boat will be able to earn the record on a single tank of fuel.
“It will be a wave-piercing catamaran that, given the right conditions, will be able to complete the crossing in 48 hours while using a fraction of the fuel of former competitors,” George told the paper. “The idea is not only to win the record back for Britain, but to develop a boat that will go on to influence the industry in terms of efficiency.”
The schedule date for the attempt has not yet been announced.
