JOURNEYSFASTEST
CIRCUMNAVIGATION
BY BICYCLE (FEMALE)
Paola Gianotti (ITA)
cycled around the world
in 144 days, covering a
distance of 29,595 km
(18,389 mi). Her journey
started and finished at
Ivrea in Turin, Italy, from
8 Mar to 30 Nov 2014.
Along the way, Paola had
to overcome a fractured
veterbra sustained in a
road-traffic accident.
In 2015, she became the
first woman to complete
the Red Bull Trans-Siberian
Extreme cycle race.FASTEST SAILING CIRCUMNAVIGATION
Francis Joyon (FRA) and a crew of five sailed around the
world non-stop in 40 days 23 hr 30 min 30 sec on board
the 120-ft (36.57–m) trimaran IDEC from 16 Dec 2016 to
26 Jan 2017. They covered a distance of 21,600 nautical mi
(40,003 km) at an average speed of 21.96 knots (25.27 mph;
40.66 km/h). The voyage started and finished between Le
Créac’h Lighthouse off the tip of Brittany, France, and Lizard
Point in Cornwall, UK. The record was ratified by the World
Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC).FASTEST CIRCUMNAVIGATION
SAILING MONOHULL SOLO
Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA, top left) spent 74 days 3 hr 35 min
sailing around the world at an average speed of 15.43 knots
(17.76 mph; 28.58 km/h), as ratified by the World Sailing
Speed Record Council (WSSRC). He won the 2016/17 Vendée
Globe single-handed yacht race in Banque Populaire VIII,
reaching Les Sables d’Olonne in France on 19 Jan 2017.FASTEST CIRCUMNAVIGATION
BY BALLOON (FAI-APPROVED)
On 12–23 Jul 2016, Fedor Konyukhov (RUS, inset) flew around
the world alone in 268 hr 20 min in a Roziere combined
hot-air and helium gas balloon. He took off from Northam
in Western Australia and landed at Bonnie Rock in the same
state. He beat the previous record set by US adventurer
Steve Fossett by two days, despite taking a longer route.OLDEST WOMAN TO
SAIL SINGLE-HANDEDLY
AROUND THE WORLD
Jeanne Socrates (UK,
b. 17 Aug 1942) was aged
70 years 325 days when she
completed a solo nautical
circumnavigation in her 38-ft
(11.58-m) monohull Nereida
on 8 Jul 2013. She started and
finished in Victoria in British
Columbia, Canada – a distance
of some 25,000 nautical mi
(46,300 km) – spending a
total of 258 days 14 hr 16 min
36 sec at sea.FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION IN A
SOLAR‑POWERED AEROPLANE (FAI‑APPROVED)
From 9 Mar 2015 to 26 Jul 2016, André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard (both
CHE, above right) piloted Solar Impulse 2 around the world powered entirely by
energy from the Sun. Their journey time, starting and finishing in Abu Dhabi,
UAE, was 505 days 19 hr 53 min, but for nearly 10 months of this time the team
were grounded in Hawaii, USA, owing to damage to overheated batteries.In Mar 1999,
Solar Impulse
2
pilot Bertrand Piccard
and Brian Jones (UK)
steered the balloon
Breitling Orbiter
3 around
the world – the
first^
circumnavigation
by balloon.
FASTEST
CIRCUMNAVIGATION
BY BICYCLE (MALE)
Starting and finishing
at Auckland Airport
in New Zealand,
Andrew Nicholson (NZ)
completed a cycled
circumnavigation of
the globe in 123 days
43 min between 12 Aug
and 13 Dec 2015.
Andrew is a former
speed skater who
represented his
home country
at three Winter
Olympics. He rode in
aid of a cancer research
centre at the University
of Otago, New Zealand.