Season U.S. short-handed sailor Joe Harris announced his plans to attempt to break the non-stop solo Around the World Record for 40-foot monohulls aboard his Class 40, GryphonSolo2.
The attempt will be made in accordance with the rules of the World Sailing Speed Record Council, who will time the start and finish in Newport, R.I. Additionally, a “WSSRC Black Box” will be installed on the boat, the data from which will be used to ratify any claim by GryphonSolo2, that the existing record of 137 days, 20 hours, 01 minute, 57 seconds, set by Chinese sailor Guo Chuan in 2013, has been broken.
Joe intends to leave Newport on a favorable weather window at the beginning of November.
To qualify for an Around the World record, Joe will sail from Castle Hill Light in Newport, returning to Newport, leaving Antarctica to starboard. The attempt is an approximate distance of 26,700 nautical miles. To beat the current record, Joe will need to average 195 miles per day, or roughly 8.2 knots/hour.
“I have been hoping, planning and dreaming of racing around the world since I was about 20, and now I am 55,” he said. “I have come dangerously close to doing this twice; first with my Open 50 GryphonSolo in 2008 in the Velux 5 Oceans Race, before it was postponed. I then bought my Class 40 GryphonSolo2 in 2011 with the express purpose of racing solo around the world, but alas, there is no longer a race, as the Global Ocean Race will not run again. So, being ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’, I have decided to ‘just do it’ and in turn attempt to break the speed record for a 40-foot monohull.”
