55 knot foiler - Hydroptère

Alain Thébault and the team of Hydroptère have succeeded in setting a new sailing speed record. On September 4th the crew took their highly-developed foiling trimaran to a new record of 51.36 knots over 500 metres and 48.72 knots over 1 nautical mile on Hyères Harbour.

The two new records were ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council on September 24th, making Hydroptère the fastest sailing machine on the planet.This amazing foiler turned 28 knots of breeze into 51 knots of boat speed. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

Top speed measured was 55.5 knots (103 km/h). The fastest average speed over 500m was recorded on the last of 8 runs by the boat on September 4th. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

Concentration at 100 km/h! Hydroptèreis configured for open-ocean sailing, not just record attempts in protected waters. The team are looking to set an open-ocean speed record next. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

The fastest men under sail! Alain Thébault and his crew - Anders Bringdal, Jean-Mathieu Bourgeon, François Cazala, Damien Colegrave, Stéphane Dyen, Matt Hodgson, Jérémie Lagarrigue, Pierre Trémouille, Gérard Navarin and Jacques Vincent. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.