Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

Newroundtheworldrecord

A Polish man has set a new record for sailing the smallest recorded

boat round the world, solo and non-stop.

Szymon Kuczyński left Plymouth on 19 August 2017, and reached

the Southern Ocean in October. He finished his record breaking

journey by sailing his Maxus 22 (20ft 10in LOA) into Plymouth on 15

May, giving him a total time of 270 days, 10 hours and 29 minutes.

Ahead of rounding Cape Horn he was looking good for a much

quicker time, but a knockdown resulting in a severely weakened

mast saw him sailing under headsails only for three weeks as he

attempted to afect repairs.

“I’ve completed my plan from beginning to finish, despite the

mistakes I made,” said Kuczyński. “This journey has proven to me

that problems on board are usually a consequence of small

mistakes and neglect. Thankfully I managed to cope with them. It

was good fun and a fantastic adventure! I want some more!”

NEWS

TilttakesfirsteverGC32Worlds

PEDRO MARTINEZ/GC32 CLASS; C/O SZYMON KUCZNSKI

Team Tilt, managed by father Alex Schneiter

and steered by Olympic 49er sailor son

Sébastien Schneiter, has won the first ever GC

World Championship, held on Lake Garda.

The team did not start the regatta all that well

with a poor first day leaving them in 11th

position overall. However, they never placed

outside the top four for the remainder of the

event (a slight wobble in the final race of the

regatta aside), despite tricky conditions with a

variety of race courses and wind strengths that

the Italian venue presented to the 13 teams.

While this was Schneiter’s first world title, this

is far from the case for tactician/mainsheet

trimmer Glenn Ashby, winning skipper of

Emirates Team New Zealand in last year’s

America’s Cup, who made a return to the team

having previously raced with them in 2016.

Second overall was SAP Extreme Sailing

Team, with Oman Air rounding out the top

three. British entry, INEOS Rebels, made up of

some of the younger British America’s Cup

team, INEOS Team UK, sailors and skippered by

Leigh McMillan, rounded out the event in fifth.

6 Yachts & Yachting July 2018