Comanche, the 100-foot supermaxi owned by Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark and built at Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, Maine is well on the way to breaking the current West to East transatlantic monohull sailing record.
It is being estimated that the boat and crew of 17 will arrive at the finish line on Thursday, July 28 just before 1100 EST. Comanche has been sailing at an average speed of over 21 knots.
“A fantastic weather window has opened up for Comanche to take on the Atlantic,” said Ken Read, prior to departure. Ken is Comanche’s normal skipper who is not currently on board due to prior commitments. “We have been on standby for a few weeks now and have almost left on three separate occasions since the end of June, and each time we have had to piece together a different team based on who is available, before the weather fizzled out and shut down those attempts. But now the right conditions have presented themselves.”
“Since being launched from Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, Maine, USA at the end of 2014, Comanche has been such a success thanks largely to her talented sailors, passionate owners, and of course a tremendous design by Guillaume Verdier/VPLP Design and build by Hodgdon Yachts in collaboration with the owner’s build team,” said Timothy Hodgdon, President of Hodgdon Yachts. “In 2015 she set the 24-hour monohull speed record and won line honors at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. This year she set the Newport Bermuda race record, breaking the previous record by almost 5 hours. Comanche is currently on track to break the transatlantic monohull record, which will be an amazing additional accomplishment.”
The current monohull transatlantic West to East Record is 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, and 39 seconds and was set in 2003 by Mari-Cha IV. It is being estimated that Comanche will finish in 5 days, 14 hours. The route is around 2,880 nautical miles and goes from Ambrose Lighthouse (New York) to Lizard Point (UK).
To follow the progress of Comanche, please visit the Yellow Brick tracker.
