Force 300 - Dramatic Weather Results in Change of Course for Sailing World Record Attempt

Allington Hughes' sponsored professional sailor and Olympic hopeful Chris Russell has set a new World Record for ‘the longest single handed, non-stop distance sailed by a male, unassisted in a dinghy’.

Chris set out to break the overall existing World Record (set by female sailor Tania Callas at 282 nautical miles), but extreme wind and waves resulted in an initial change of course, miles lost and eventually it was deemed too dangerous for Chris to stay on the water any longer.

Chris made the difficult decision to abort the attempt at 20:45 on Wednesday 20 August 2014, having spent over 16 hours on the water and sailed over 100 nautical miles. This effort still set a new world record for ‘the longest single handed, non-stop distance sailed by a male, unassisted in a dinghy’, which is now awaiting verification from Guinness. This was Chris’ first ever World Record attempt and despite having fallen short of his initial goal, he aims to try for the overall record again within the next six months.

Chris had intended to sail from Porth Eirias, Colwyn Bay, across the Irish channel to the shoreline near Dublin port and back again. However the weather dictated Chris’ journey stayed in and around the Colwyn Bay and North Wales coastline. Chris’ attempt was closely monitored by a land-based crew and he was followed by a support team and an independent adjudicator in a rib at all times.

Chris Russell commented, “I'm exhausted, but extremely satisfied with the performance myself and everyone else in the team put in over the last 30 hours.

“We started out in near perfect conditions, but within one hour of setting off we were unexpectedly hit by a really bad patch of weather and my average speed dropped significantly. By the halfway point [approximately 15 hours into the attempt] I knew that achieving the goal of 300 nautical miles would have taken me beyond the safety time limit I'd set for the challenge. However, I was determined to log as many miles as I could before the wind died at sunset.

“I'm confident that I've been able to set at least one new World Record over the last 24hours and I'm very proud of the results from this challenge. It was a great learning experience and it is without a shadow of a doubt that I'll try again to break the 300 nautical mile barrier in the very near future! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone around me for continuing to support me, and help make challenges like this a reality."

Everyone at Allington Hughes would like to congratulate Chris on a truly heroic effort, and we look forward to supporting him even more in his goal to hit that 300 mile World Record.

Chris Russell ready to take off from Porth Eirias on his World Record attempt