Record attempt thwarted by rough weather

Chris Russell (IRL), who had set out on August 20 in his Laser to establish a new Guinness World Records for ‘the longest single handed, non-stop distance sailed, unassisted in a dinghy’, failed to improve on the current record set by female sailor Tania Callas at 282 nautical miles. Due to extreme wind and waves, Chris abandoned his attempt after 16 hours on the water and having sailed 100 nautical miles.

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.

“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,” explained Chris. “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.”

Chris will submit his data to Guinness World Records in hopes they grant him the record for male mileage. There is no existing male record, and it is not known if the record-keeping agency has a minimum mileage required for new records to be established.

For more information on the World Record attempt visit Chris’ Force300 Facebook page; “Force-300-World-Record-Attempt” or search #Force300 on Twitter. For more information about Chris Russell, visit www.chrisrussellsailing.com.