100-foot Comanche on its way to breaking transatlantic sailing record

Comanche, a 100-foot supermaxi yacht built at Hodgdon Yachts in the USA, is well on the way to breaking the current West to East transatlantic monohull sailing record.

It is estimated that the boat and crew of 17 will arrive at the finish line on Thursday, July 28 just before 11am EST. Comanche has been sailing at an average speed of over 21 knots.

Prior to departure, Ken Read commented, "A fantastic weather window has opened up for Comanche to take on the Atlantic. We have been on standby for a few weeks now and have almost left on three separate occasions since the end of June, and each time we have had to piece together a different team based on who is available, before the weather fizzled out and shut down those attempts. But now the right conditions have presented themselves."

Timothy Hodgdon, president of Hodgdon Yachts added, "Since being launched from Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, Maine, USA at the end of 2014, Comanche has been such a success thanks largely to her talented sailors, passionate owners, and of course a tremendous design by Guillaume Verdier/VPLP Design."

He continued, "In 2015 she set the 24-hour monohull speed record and won line honours at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. This year she set the Newport Bermuda race record, breaking the previous record by almost five hours. Comanche is currently on track to break the transatlantic monohull record, which will be an amazing additional accomplishment."

The current monohull transatlantic West to East Record is six days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, and 39 seconds and was set in 2003 by Mari-Cha IV. It is being estimated that Comanche will finish in five days, 14 hours. The route is around 2,880 nautical miles and goes from Ambrose Lighthouse (New York) to Lizard Point (UK).

To follow the progress of Comanche, please visit the Yellow Brick tracker