Science & technology | The wind in their sails

How two teams plan to smash the world sailing-speed record

Neither craft looks much like a sailing boat

The SP80’s first test on water — And all I ask is a fast ship, and a kite to sail her byImage: Guillaume Fischer

Nov 8th 2023

Launched in 1869, the Cutty Sark was the fastest sailing ship of its time. These days the clipper is a London tourist attraction. In its prime, when it dashed across the world carrying tea from China and wool from Australia, it could reach a heady 17 knots (31.5kph, or 19.6mph). Modern racing yachts, employing radical designs based on 150 years of advances in aerodynamics and hydromechanics, go much faster. And even stranger craft are hoving into view, as part of an attempt to break the speed record for a sail-powered craft, which was set, in 2012, at 65 knots.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The wind in their sails”