Earthrace - New Record Round the World in 60 days

by Rob Kothe on 27 Jun 2008 Possibly the coolest powerboat on the planet, the space age, wave piercing trimaran Earthrace today took bio-fuel into history as the 78 foot, (24 metre) boat crossed the 'Round the World' finish line in Sagunto, Spain. In just 60 days Earthrace has powered almost 24,000 nautical miles around the world.

Earthrace left Spain on Sunday April 27th at 14:35 local time (1325 GMT) and headed west on the long voyage around the world.

The previous record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe was 74 days 20 hours 58 minutes 30 seconds, set by the UK boat ‘Cable & Wireless Adventurer’ in 1998.

Flying both the New Zealand and Spanish flags Earthrace thundered across the finish line, powered by her twin 540 horse powered Cummins-Mercruiser engines, in front of a large spectator fleet and awaiting media at 14.24 CET (13.24 GMT). The finish in Spain by Earthrace was monitored by D. Jaime Pérez López, Presidente de la Federación Territorial Motonaútica de la Comunidad Valenciana.The new record is 13 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes inside the old one.

For the visionary skipper behind the Earthrace campaigns the last sixty days is just one step in a journey that has, so far, taken five years.

In 2003 living in Sydney Australia, Aucklander Pete Bethune was working on his MBA when he wrote a 20,000 word paper on the use of renewable energy for road transport. Convinced by his research, he set out to prove that sustainable bio-fuels were a practical step in the replacement of hydrocarbon fuels.

‘Sustainability is the key. We cannot cut down rainforests to plant palm trees for palm oil that is not renewable at all. We will need new technology and ideas, such as using marine algae to convert the suns energy into bio-fuel, while making sure we use animal fats more efficiently. We need to grow plants like Jatropha in marginal agricultural areas, where they can be used for animal fodder, as well as having bio-fuel value.

‘Looking back over the last sixty days there have been a number of major factors contributing to our success. Overall, we had better fuel, better boat speed, better spare parts and maintenance and we made better decisions. We failed in our record attempt last year, but we learnt a great deal from it.

‘In hindsight the damage we did in Palau could easily have sunk the whole record attempt. The proudest moment of the entire journey was putting the boat back into the water in Singapore… it was a magnificent effort from the ground crew, the boat crew, our long terms sponsors and the Singapore marine industry.’

Sharyn Bethune will arrive in Valencia this evening. Bethune is looking forward to seeing his wife but she may not have a great conversation companion. ‘After two months of not a drop to drink, tonight a couple of glasses of champagne will probably sink me’ Bethune laughed.

Earthrace will be on show across Europe over the coming months and will then spend December and January on a promotional tour of the Australian East coast, before arriving in Auckland in time for the Auckland International Boat Show 2009.

‘Earthrace has taken a chunk out of our lives. I am pretty determined to settle down to a laid back Kiwi lifestyle and enjoy time with Sharyn and the girls, while I am writing a book’ Pete Bethune concluded.