Quentin Delapierre’s catamaran was flashed at 99.94 km/h, a new circuit speed record.
The French catamaran piloted by Quentin Delapierre was flashed at 99.94 km/h (53.87 knots), a new speed record for the circuit, on Saturday in Saint-Tropez during the first day of the French stage of SailGP, an event of sailing which brings together nine ultra-fast flying boats. For the fifth of the eleven stages of this world circuit, the French crew came close to the 100 km/h mark, a speed never reached in the race, while the wind was blowing between 20 and 30 knots during a fleet regatta.
The previous SailGP instantaneous speed record, 98.26 km/h, was held by the British crew, piloted by Ben Ainslie, four-time Olympic sailing champion. The absolute sailing speed record (over 500 m), 121.06 km/h (65.45 knots) has been held since 2012 by Australian Paul Larsen, on the Vestas Sailrocket 2 multihull.
“I would have liked to reach 100 km/h”
«I can’t believe it“, reacted Quentin Delapierre, present at the Tokyo Olympics in a Nacra catamaran with Manon Audinet, also on board Saturday as a strategist. “There were at times 30 knots (of wind), we often sailed above 50 knots. SailGP once again pushes the boundaries of international sailing».
Read alsoSailGP: Quentin Delapierre, le marine de Saint-Tropez
«I would have liked to reach 100 km/h. You can feel a lot of things from 95 km/h, the boat starts to shake, this is called cavitation. Then the foil begins to descend very slowly, if we touch the water a little quickly, we turn around. It shakes so much that we are afraid that the boat will break up“, he added in front of the media.
