Channel Record to Fossett's PlayStation

by Palystation Media on 11 Dec 2001 Steve Fossett and his 125' maxi catamaran PlayStation capped a remarkable
2001 with their fifth sailing world record of the year. Their time on the
138 mile course - pending ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record
Council (WSSRC) - of 6 hours, 21 mins, 44 secs took 27 minutes of the
previous record (6h 49m 19s) set by Tracy Edwards on Royal & Sun Alliance.

The decision to 'give it a try' was made on Sunday night after Steve and crew
returned from Saturday night's UNCL awards dinner in Paris.

On board were:

Steve Fossett (USA) Skipper

Chris Tibbs (UK) Navigator

Dave Scully (USA)

Shaun Biddulph (UK)

Pete Melvin (USA)

Peter Hogg (NZ)

Gino Morrelli (USA)

Helena Darvelid (SWE/UK)

Paul Van Dyke (USA)

Andy Elson (UK)

Brian Thompson (UK)

Nick Moloney (AUS)

Pete Berry (UK)

Steve Fossett: 'The weather wasn't quite ideal. Especially at the start when
we had a 10 kt NE wind that meant we were slow out of the Solent gybing 8
times. We only averaged 16 kts for the first hour and so spent the rest of
the trip catching up to the record. But the mild sea state and average winds
of 18 knots meant it worked out well in the end.'

'We had a great and experienced crew, and nearly everyone on board had sailed
on a previous PlayStation world record.'

The crew of 13 included both of the boat's designers, Pete Melvin and Gino
Morrelli, Sweden's Helena Darvelid (a crew member from Royal & Sun Alliance's
record), navigator Chris Tibbs from Cowes and 2 new crew members, Scottish
multi hull specialist, Pete Berry and Steve's former balloon colleague, Andy
Elson. Also aboard were PlayStation veterans Brian Thompson and Nick Moloney
plus TransAt/24 Hour record holders Dave Scully, Shaun Biddulph, Peter Hogg
and Paul Van Dyke.

The 21.69 average speed means that Steve and PlayStation now hold the 3
fastest records in the WSSRC book (24 Hour record, The W-E TransAt, The
Channel record). Unless somebody else breaks the Channel record before 31
December, they will also become the first holders of the new 'Channel Record
Trophy'. This is awarded annually for the fastest Cowes-St Malo course.