French sailor Yoann Richomme broke the record for the most distance covered in 24 hours in a monohull when he clocked 551.84 nautical miles (1,021.7 km) in the Vendee Globe, the solo, non-stop round-the-world race.
Nicolas Lunven had set the record at 546.64 nautical miles a week ago before Richomme, 41, sailed five miles more than his French compatriot at an average speed of 23 knots.
In his Paprec Arkea monohull sailing yacht, Richomme is currently in fourth place behind Briton Sam Goodchild and Frenchmen Sebastien Simon and Charlie Dalin after 10 days of racing.
On Tuesday, Richomme posted a video where he revelled in ideal conditions as the wind speed kicked up to nearly 30 knots.
“I don’t know what Nicolas Lunven’s record is. We’ll see, maybe we haven’t got long enough to do it,” he said from his cockpit.
“It’s crazy, you never get tired of it,” he added as his yacht raced across the water in the Atlantic Ocean.
The record has yet to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
As of 1000 GMT on Wednesday, Richomme was 31.81 nautical miles behind Goodchild.
The Vendee Globe is a solo, non-stop and unassisted sailing race around the world, starting and finishing in Les Sables-d’Olonne in France.
The route spans approximately 24,000 nautical miles, with sailors dealing with some of the planet’s harshest and most remote conditions in the open seas.
