WSSR agrees - across the Tasman in under three days, a new record

by Sail-World Cruising on 6 Nov 2013 The brief message by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSR) gave no clue to the preparation, excitement or feeling of triumph when they announced the official recognition of the new record which was set in October for sailing across the Tasman Sea from Sydney to Auckland.

Here it was:
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of a new World Record

Record: Sydney to Auckland

Yacht: 'Team Australia' ORMA 60

Name: Sean Langman AUS and 5 crew.

Dates:.16th to the 18th October 2013.

Start time: 01;09;58 UTC on 16;10;13

Finish time: 20;12;43 UTC on 18;10;13

Elapsed time: 2 days 19 hours 2 minutes and 45 seconds

Distance: 1265NM

Average speed: 18.87kts

Comments: A Benchmark will have been set during the 1997/8 Volvo Race which certainly will have been slower than this claim. At present we have been unable to establish this crossing time.

John Reed

Secretary to the WSSR Council
...............

When they passed between Auckland’s North Head and the leading lights at Rangitoto Channel, the six-man crew on the ORMA 60 from Sydney nicknamed Big Bird were elated and knew they had set a new world record

Skipper Sean Langman bravely predicted their elapsed time of 2 days 19 hours 2 minutes 45 seconds and 18.8 knot average speed for the Trans-Tasman ocean crossing would stand for decades.

'We had perfect conditions, essentially we beam reached on port to the tip of NZ, gybed, parked for a couple of hours then beam reached on starboard to the finish, a scenario that is basically unheard of.'

Now it's official, and congratulations to Sean and the team!