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Saturday 9th August saw Spirit of Cardiff finally arriving back in the UK on the last stop of its mammoth voyage.
Alan and the team made the fastest ever crossing of the Atlantic by Rigid Inflatable Boat, and what's more to the point is that they have been right around the world, and then some! And even with the time spent over last winter with the boat under six feet of snow in Newfoundland, the total time from leaving Cardiff on March 31st 2002 to arriving back in Portsmouth on August 9th 2003 still beats by a handsome margin the leisurely two years set in the mid '90s by Bryan Peterson. In fact, if you disregard all the layovers, and take "at sea" times purely, Spirit of Cardiff has achieved a circumnavigation of the world in under 80 days.
A big thumbs up from the crew as they arrive in the Solent
Last year's circumnavigation stopped with a total sea time of 73 days 20 hours 11 minutes, while the transatlantic just completed clocked 4 days 23 hours 55 minutes at sea. Obviously the start and finish points were different, so there's no official world record in sight, but even so, the achievement is clear.
"It might be worth repeating here that, never mind the unofficial records, Spirit of Cardiff (now known as the Jolly Sailor) is the most successful powerboat in history. Her official UIM world records stretch back to 2000, when she set the first ever powerboat circumnavigation of the entire British Isles, followed four months later by Gibraltar / Monaco, smashing the Cable and Wireless Adventurer's fastest round-the-world port-to-port record. Then in May 2001, Spirit of Cardiff set the UIM world record for a transatlantic from New York to Lizard Point. That record still stands. Last week's transatlantic via Greenland and Iceland, although not an official record, was considerably faster. And then of course there's the small case of 29 port-to-port records from last year's voyage around the world.
"To celebrate the Jolly Sailor's safe return the world famous Portsmouth Field Gun Crew fired a six-gun salute as the boat entered Gunwharf Quay. After being craned ashore the Jolly Sailor was subsequently towed on its trailer through historic Portsmouth by the Field Gun Crew, raising more funds for the Make a Wish Foundation, and on to the Jolly Sailor pub for a well deserved celebration!
Read more about the Soltron Atlantic Challenge here
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