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Ken Warby and SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA: Still the world record holder, 40 years later

On 20 November 1977, Ken Warby set the world water speed record, piloting his wooden jet-powered boat, Spirit of Australia, into the history books.

Spirit of Australia driven by Ken Warby on Blowering Dam, 1977. ANMM Collection ANMS1163[291], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

But where Lee Taylor’s record attempt had cost close to $1 million in 1967, Warby had built his hydroplane in a suburban backyard…with a military-surplus jet engine that cost $65!

Driving himself to success

Initially, Warby set out on to beat the established speed record of 464 km/h, and then he set his sights higher to capture another milestone, the mythical 300 mi/h or 500 km/h. At the beginning, both goals were way off in the distance, as the fastest speed he had gone in a powerboat before building Spirit of Australia was around 140 km/h, a third of the existing record.

But Ken was determined to reach his goal. In 1972 he began designing and building a craft for himself at his home in Sydney NSW, testing and improving it in a series of gradual steps.

His support staff were friends and volunteers, Warby’s devised a training programme for himself and each step to breaking the world speed record was based on a day-by-day, learn-from-experience approach. No one ever checked his diet or fitness level, and his neighbours thought he was mad as they watched Warby build the Spirit of Australia in a suburban backyard. His budget, or lack thereof, dictated the rate of progress and it was only when Warby had established his credentials with his first world record in November 1977 did the first major sponsor come on board with significant support for the project – swimwear and accessories company Speedo .

Ken Warby celebrating with a bottle of champagne. ANMM Collection ANMS1163[288], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

Technical support

The three air force surplus jet engines used by Warby cost him just $265. When the first one was damaged, he fitted the $65 one he had put aside for spares. This second engine would go on to be the world speed record setting component. His final record was set with a fourth engine, procured by swapping one of his dud engines with a working model used by the trainees at the Wagga Wagga RAAF base, after they had joined the project as enthusiastic support crew down at the dam in November 1977.

Earlier, when it finally became necessary, Warby had sought technical advice from professional colleagues Professor Tom Fink and Dr Laurie Doctors from the University of NSW. After testing a model of Spirit of Australia in their wind-tunnel, Fink and Doctors were astonished at how much Warby instinctively knew and designed by.

These pen drawings of Spirit of Australia are titled ‘Project 300 – alterations expected’ and very simply outline the proposed changes to the vessel for Ken Warby’s world speed record attempt. The changes illustrated and mentioned include moving the engine forward by four feet, air scoops to extend right to transom, parallel and down to three feet, vampire type wind ‘brakes’ (hydraulic), boat to plane on two feet aft of sponsons, possible exhaust steering and thrust plate angled down to left of stern etc. These revisions were to be tested in the wind tunnel at 300 mph with Warby in the cockpit where it would also be decided if a cockpit plastic windscreen would be needed. ANMM Collection ANMS1163[255], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

There was nothing hi-tech about Spirit of Australia , which was after all wooden boat, but the previous record was left well behind as Spirit of Australia powered past the course markers, on a dam which remained open to the public for boating and fishing during the world record attempt.

Ken Warby standing on Spirit of Australia . ANMM Collection ANMS1163[267], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

Learning to build for speed

The cliché says ‘winning at sport is not a matter of life or death, it’s more important than that’, which may be so for many sportsmen, but in Warby’s case the water speed record attempt had every chance of ending in disaster: The road that had already been travelled by many and was marked with a series of fatal accidents . Warby was cautious. He did not know the answers for many of the problems he expected to meet along the way, so he followed a path on which he could learn as he progressed.

Promotional material from a 1977 Boat Show, with Ken Warby’s safety advice. ANMM Collection 1163[281], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

Spirit of Australia is a three-point hydroplane, well established as the type for high-speed racing and records. The hull took shape first around two main longitudinal solid timber girders, surrounded by transverse bulkheads that included a floor, side frames and deck beams. On the centreline at the bottom is a flat keel. Chine logs, stringers and a solid wood transom complete the framework of oregon and spruce, which was covered with marine-grade plywood and finally laminated with Dynel cloth. The sponsons were built onto the hull and their structure is similar. Just forward of the cockpit are the airspeed fitting and a cleat — even the world’s fastest boat needs to be towed or tied up.

Spirit of Australia is a hydroplane designed and built by Ken Warby in Australia between 1972 – 1974. This vessel holds the current world record of 317.596m/h (511.11km/h) averaged over 2 runs on Blowering Dam, near Tumut, New South Wales in 1978. ANMM Collection 00000003.

The twin girders became engine beds supporting the framework of welded mild steel pipe in which the engine was slung. For steering, a mild steel rudder blade and quadrant were securely bolted to the transom, linked by heavy cables to a wheel in the cockpit. Behind the sponsons were stainless steel fins, acting like skegs, to give the rudder something to push against.

It was a simple but effective structure, built of materials anyone could source and priced to suit Warby’s self-financed resources. By contrast, the two groups currently planning separate assaults on the record are promoting designs built of the latest available lightweight composite construction materials, requiring sponsors to support a significant budget.

How fast was he? At 500 km/h Warby was doing one kilometre every seven seconds, and every 100m took him only 0.7 seconds. Spirit of Australia was in straight line all the way along, skimming the surface of the dam with barely a deviation, all the time delicately balanced on the tips of its sponsons, fins, rudder and planning shoe, casually rocking from side to side. ‘Sponson walking’ it’s called, and it is unnerving to watch but absolutely vital for success according to Warby: The ‘gentle’ rolling motion releases air pressure which builds up under the hull and would have threatened to flip the boat.

Ken Warby standing in the Spirit of Australia . ANMM Collection ANMS1163[313], reproduced courtesy of Graeme Andrews.

Holding on to the record

There are, of course, challengers for Warby’s speed record, including from Ken himself and his own family .

Spirit of Australia II is a new jet-powered boat built by Ken and his son David Warby to take on the record. Spirit of Australia II is designed by Ken Warby and looks remarkably like its predecessor. It is also built of wood and fibreglass but the craft is, in fact, a very much improved version of the original Spirit of Australia . Spirit of Australia II slightly longer, the sponsons have been altered, it has a new powerplant, rudder modifications and safety improvements. Spirit of Australia II has close to 50% more power than the original boat, powered by a Rolls Royce Orpheus 803 Ex Italian Air Force engines, removed from a Fiat Gina G-91 jet fighter.

Spirit of Australia II ‘s first outing Taree. July 2017 A post shared by warby motorsport (@warbymotorsport) on Oct 14, 2017 at 5:08am PDT

Gone are the days of solo backyard building by Ken, with no regulations or safety requirements to contend with. It’s still early days in so far as testing the boat goes, but the construction of Spirit of Australia II is being led by Dave Warby, who is an experienced powerboat builder with recognised powerboat accreditations for building regulated aspects of these high powered crafts.

Warby Motorsport conducted the first tests of Spirit of Australia II at Taree before moving to Blowering Dam in September 2017 . They note that ‘on the 22nd of September a sign was unveiled at The Pines (the base camp area for Ken’s World Records) at Blowering Dam to recognise Ken Warby’s World Water Speed Records on the Dam’, an initiative by the Tumut Rotary Club and Snowy Valleys Council.

Spirit of Australia II is planning to return to Blowering Dam for more testing and they will be able to celebrate Ken Warby holding the world water speed record for 40 years right on the spot. Meanwhile, the original boat and current record holder Spirit of Australia remains on display at the museum, a proud reminder of Australian ingenuity and daring.

— David Payne, Curator of Historic Vessels

Spirit of Australia  is on display in the museum and seen with our FREE galleries ticket .

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David Payne

David Payne is Curator of Historic Vessels at Australian National Maritime Museum, and through the Australian Register of Historic Vessels he works closely with heritage boat owners throughout Australia researching and advising on their craft and their social connections. David has also been a yacht designer and documented many of the museum’s vessels with extensive drawings. He has had a wide sailing experience, from Lasers and 12-foot skiffs through to long ocean passages. Since 2012 he has been able to work closely with Aboriginal communities on a number of Indigenous canoe building and watercraft projects.

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World’s Fastest Sailboat: Quantum Leap

• By James Boyd
• Updated: June 18, 2013

Vestas SailRocket 2

Last November, in southwest Africa, a landmark moment occurred in the history of sailing when Paul Larsen pegged the outright world sailing speed record. In recent years the record was eclipsed in small increments, usually a fraction of a knot, but the Australian’s innovative Vestas SailRocket 2 flew down the 500-meter course at an average speed just over 75 mph, almost 10 knots faster than the previous record held by American kiteboarder Rob Douglas.

Tim Colman’s asymmetric Crossbow established the first 500-meter record in 1972 with a heady 26.3 knots. Windsurfers took hold of the record in 1986 and held it until 1993 when Simon McKeon’s asymmetric yacht Yellow Pages took it and held it until 2004. Windsurfers reigned again for a few years, but it was the kiteboarders who shattered the mythical 50-knot barrier in 2008. In 2009 Alain Thebault’s foiler L’Hydroptère managed 51.36 knots. But the kiteboarders quickly won it back when Douglas pushed the record to 55.65 knots.

With the latest record Larsen not only reclaimed it on behalf of “the boats,” but set a benchmark—65.45 knots to be precise—that will be hard to surpass.

Despite the stunning margin of increase, the record did not come easily. The feat was the culmination of 10 years of hard graft, fiscal uncertainty, and severe setbacks.

The Australian-born Larsen had been best known in the sailing world for his offshore adventures. He crewed on Pete Goss’s ill-fated Team Philips , then ended up sailing around the world in The Race with Tony Bullimore. He completed another lap aboard Doha 2006 , winner of the Oryx Quest.

In 2002, he and his Swedish girlfriend, Helena Darvelid, herself an accomplished offshore sailor, teamed up with English naval architect and speed sailing junkie Malcolm Barnsley.

The catalyst for the SailRocket project was the book The 40-knot Sailboat written in 1963 by American rocket scientist and yacht design visionary Bernard Smith. At a time when yachts still had long keels, Smith described the idea of a sailing vessel dubbed the “aero-hydrofoil” with neutral stability: where the heeling moment from the rig is completely offset by a foil located to windward. Smith built models to prove his concept, but it was only when the first Vestas SailRocket was launched in the spring of 2004 that his concept was proven at full scale.

Initial progress was slow. In 2005, after two seasons getting to know the platform, they replaced its softsail rig with a wing. The first trials with the boat were on Portland Harbour, close to Larsen and Darvelid’s home in Weymouth, Great Britain. In 2007, the duo decamped to Walvis Bay, Namibia, a venue with perfect characteristics that offered more opportunity to carry out runs: a gently sloping beach, regular winds, and a 1,000-meter stretch of obstruction-free water. In recent years, Namibia has taken over from The French Trench in Saintes Maries de la Mer, France, as the preferred location for breaking sailing speed records. All the speed records set by kiteboarders were done in Luderitz, Namibia, some 250 miles south of Walvis Bay.

The first big speeds came in 2007, with SailRocket hitting an instantaneous speed of 42.4 knots during one run. It was well short of the record at the time, but fast enough to prove Smith’s concept. That number also enabled Larsen and Darvelid to gain vital sponsorship from wind turbine manufacturer Vestas.

With such a groundbreaking boat, teething problems were inevitable. They were getting faster, but the boat, rather than the pilot, was still mostly in control. A significant issue was the steering. “The back of the boat looked like Edward Scissorhands,” says Larsen. “We had three rudders hanging off the back; one system was confusing the other. It was a mess.”

After nearly destroying the boat in a crash, Larsen and Darvelid, along with Barnsley and engineer George Dadd, set out to create a better steering system. With this fitted, and_ Vestas SailRocket_ rebuilt, they set off again, as Larsen says “on one of the wildest runs I’ve ever had in that boat.” The steering was better—the boat would bear away to some degree—but far from perfect. On one run, Vestas SailRocket ran onto the beach at 35 knots.

But despite the troubles controlling the boat, Larsen knew they were on the right track. After tweaking the rudder over the next few days, they did one run, in big winds and relatively rough conditions, where Larsen felt for the first time that he was in control of the beast. It was a landmark moment.

“After that run, we booked the WSSRC for the first time,” he says, referring to the World Speed Sailing Record Council, which administers and validates all sailing speed records.

While the boat continued to get faster, a more fundamental design issue became apparent. With the pilot’s seat in the rear of the main hull, trying to keep the boat pointed in the right direction was a challenge. It was, Larsen describes, “like trying to fly an arrow backwards. It would try to turn around and fly the proper way with the weight at the front and the feathers at the back, by turning laterally into the wind, or vertically if it had to.”

On one memorable occasion, Vestas SailRocket took off and performed a complete backflip, leaving Larsen upside down in the water and the boat once again in pieces. The video of this crash went viral on YouTube and has been played more than 400,000 times. But this was one of many incidents: “We had rounded up into the wind, smashed the wing, and folded up the beam at least four times before we even got to the flip,” he recalls. “Each one of those was a big crash, big repair, damaged wing, broken struts; once we got the boat going really quick, then she started to somersault.”

Amid all of this, the world record was being pushed further down the track by the kiteboarders with Douglas stealing it from the windsurfers and then Frenchman Sebastien Cattelan being the first sailor to break the 50-knot barrier. But Vestas SailRocket also made its mark. The same day as the backflip, SailRocket became the world’s fastest boat, as opposed to board, at a speed of 47.3 knots.

The following season Larsen and company realized time was running out for Vestas SailRocket . They had an unofficial run of 49.38 knots and a peak speed of 52.78 knots, but the runs were still very much do or die. Larsen endured another full backflip and a separate catastrophe when the forward beamstay broke, causing the beam to fly back into the main hull and the boat to fold up, putting the pilot in the hospital. “It went from over 47 knots to a standstill, and the beam came back at me like a cricket bat,” says Larsen. “I still rate that as the most violent crash in yachting yet.”

With Vestas SailRocket reaching the limit of its potential, the team was already deep into the design of Vestas SailRocket 2 , harnessing all the knowledge they’d learned from the first boat.

While Barnsley spearheaded the design of the first boat, the principle designer of the second was Chris Hornzee-Jones, a structural engineer and aerodynamicist, who heads the company AeroTrope and designed the wingsail for the first Vestas SailRocket .

Launched in March 2011, Vestas SailRocket 2 incorporated all the fundamental features of the first boat: a hull to windward incorporating the all-important foil, a single crossbeam, and a wingsail inclined to weather by 30 degrees. In other ways, however, it was a significant step forward. At 40 feet long by 40 feet wide, it was slightly bigger, and the hull was now more like a glider fuselage sitting on two short floats at the bow and stern, with the rudder mounted on the forward one. To leeward the wingmast sat atop a third float.

Most noticeable was that while the floats pointed in its direction of travel, the fuselage was offset to starboard by 20 degrees to point into the direction of the apparent wind in order to minimize drag at high speed. They also “reversed the arrow,” putting the cockpit in the bow of the fuselage. They enlarged the wing from 172 sq. ft. to 193 sq. ft., added a hooked section at the bottom of the wing (giving it a hockey stick profile), which acts as an endplate for the wing and also provides some control over how high the leeward float flys.

In the cockpit, in addition to the steering wheel, the controls Larsen uses during a run are the mainsheet and the control for the flap on the outboard extension of the wing. There are also controls for raising and lowering the main foil and the low-speed skeg, and controlling the wing when stationary.

During the 2011 season, the team made solid progress. Vestas SailRocket 2 proved more controllable and stable than the previous boat, and in two seasons of use it experienced none of the same catastrophes that afflicted the first boat. However, regardless of the wind speed, the new boat couldn’t surpass the low 50-knot range. By this stage, Douglas had pushed the record to 55.65 knots.

The culprit proved to be the foil, mounted on a bracket well aft on the windward side of the fuselage.

In 2011, the team trialed two foils. Both were L-shaped, one a conventional asymmetric teardrop shape—with a similar section to an IMOCA 60/Volvo 70 daggerboard—the other a ventilating foil. With the former both the low- and high-pressure sides of the foil are put to use, but when traveling at speeds approaching 60 knots the foil cavitated. This is a common problem for propellers, caused when pressure on the low-pressure side of the foil becomes so low it causes the water to vaporize, effectively detaching it from the foil. With only one side of the foil working, the performance of the foil drops suddenly, with potentially disastrous effects.

A ventilating foil with more of bullet shape (a sharp leading edge, and a blunt trailing edge) is, in hydrodynamic terms, much less efficient: Its effective working area is much reduced, and it creates more drag. However, this shape theoretically removes the cavitation issue and allows the foil to operate smoothly at speeds well in excess of those where a conventional foil starts to struggle. During the 2011 season Vestas SailRocket was mostly being sailed with this foil, only it failed to ventilate properly. In desperation the team took out the grinder and progressively shortened the foil in 6″ chunks, down from 3’3″ to 1’9″, before returning to base to consider the data.

Back in Great Britain, the team planned to build a new foil, but was unsure what exactly to build. Talking to the experts only caused more confusion. They were advised a ventilating foil shouldn’t be able to get beyond 30 knots, but they had achieved speeds in excess of 50 knots with it. So they reverted to their original concept of a ventilated foil, only a depth of around 2′ submerged and a chord of 10″ at its maximum—about 60 percent of its original area. They also fitted Cosworth data loggers to the foil to establish where cavitation or ventilation was occurring.

The eureka moment came not with the new foil on its own, but when they added a strategically placed fence to prevent ventilation in an area of the foil that shouldn’t have been ventilated. And the rest, as they say, is history. Initially they set a new record of 59.23 knots, and 10 days later Larsen managed 65.45 knots with a peak speed of 67.74 knots.

What’s it like at 60 knots? “It depends on how close I get into the beach,” says Larsen. “If I stay out of the rough stuff, it is a short, sharp, bumpy ride, like on a high speed powerboat. This thing doesn’t knife through the waves, it skips over the top of the small chop. At the back of the boat it is pretty good, just riding on a foil, it is pretty civilized. The visibility is brilliant. I have got no sunglasses or visor on. There is no spray coming into the cockpit, compared to the last boat. I only feel a little bit of spray just when I start up.”

At present there are no plans to progress with Vestas SailRocket . The point has been proven. From the heavens Bernard Smith, who passed away on Feb. 10, 2010, can smile. Larsen is adamant the concept will go faster; in theory there is nothing to stop this genre of boat from hitting 100 knots. But it will require another foil. With his offshore background Larsen is intrigued to see if the neutral stability concept can be developed for more practical applications, but only if it makes boats like the 131-foot Banque Populaire maxi tri [the outright ’round the world record holder at 45 days] look like pedestrian dinosaurs.

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SP80 aims to have the fastest sailboat in the world next year. See photos of the futuristic craft poised to break records.

• Company SP80 is trying to break the world record for the fastest sailboat.
• The fastest sailboat speed is currently 65.45 knots — SP80 is gunning for 80 knots, or 92 mph.
• The SP80 boat was displayed at this year's Monaco Yacht Show.

With its slender frame, white exterior, and extraterrestrial vibe, SP80 is looking to break the record for the world's fastest sailboat.

Although the SP80 boat, displayed "ready-to-sail" for the first time this year's Monaco Yacht Show , looks like it would be powered by rocket fuel, a giant kite pulls the vessel along with the wind, Laura Manon, a spokesperson for SP80, told Insider.

"We talked to hundreds of people over the week, and they were all amazed that it was a sailboat with no engine on board," Manon said of the yacht show.

Manon continued: "People in Monaco said it looked more like a submarine or an airplane, and someone even thought it was a drone!"

The French company, started by pals Mayeul van den Broek, Xavier Lepercq, and Benoit Gaudiot in 2018, hopes to use its analog tech to reach 80 knots, or 92 mph, and shatter the 65.45-knot record held by Paul Larsen and his Vestas Sailrocket 2.

Luxury watchmaker Richard Millie, known for its collaborations with Formula 1 , became SP80's title partner to support the venture.

However, despite the team's four-year investment in the project, the boat itself is still in early testing phases. The boat touched water for the first time in early August at Lake Geneva and could withstand being pulled by a speedboat at 30 knots, per a press release on the site — still a far cry from the 80 knots the team is looking to hit.

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The SP80 boat is 34 feet long, 25 feet wide, and weighs about 330 pounds, per the company's site . In the front is a cockpit for two: One pilot controls the kite, while the other steers the boat. The carbon fiber build is reinforced with Kevlar for added protection in case of a collision, and pilots are strapped down and given helmets and emergency oxygen masks.

The SP80 appears ready to blast off; however, every detail of the boat is designed to ensure it doesn't actually fly.

"At the very high speeds we are targeting, we don't want to fly but to stay really flat on water, kind of like Formula 1," Manon told Insider.

Underneath the boat is a uniquely slanted hydrofoil , built to keep the vessel in the water as the attached kite pulls it to top speeds.

"The boat has three contact points with the water: the main hull and two side floats. At the rear the power module constantly aligns the kite's ascending force, which pulls the boat up, with the foil force that pulls it down," Mayeul van den Broek, CEO of SP80, explains in the video.

As for what's next for the team, the company says the boat is headed to the south of France for further testing as they race for the world record — which they hope to attempt in 2024.

Manon said the team will attach a smaller kite, allow the pilots to start feeling comfortable with the vessel, and gradually increase the speed using larger kites. The goal, Manon said, is to first break the 65 knot record and "then to continuously accelerate until 80 knots."

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Fastest boat: The current holder and contenders for the world water-speed record

Attempting the world water-speed record takes years of preparation, massive amounts of horsepower, a huge budget, some astonishing engineering, the aerodynamics of a fighter jet and cojones the size of Milford Haven. Despite all this there are currently four active contenders for the title of the world’s fastest boat...

What is the world’s fastest boat?

The current title of world’s fastest boat belongs to Spirit of Australia , which recorded a two-way average top speed of 317.6mph (551.1 km/h) on Blowering Dam, NSW in 1978.

Piloted by the late great Ken Warby, this homebuilt wooden speed machine was the first boat to break the 300mph and 500km/h barriers.

Warby, who passed away in early 2023, was the first Australian to hold a world speed record and the first person to design, build and pilot a water speed record boat.

Who is trying to break the fastest boat record?

Quicksilver.

Nigel Macknight is both the driving force and the driver of Quicksilver , Britain’s long-standing-challenger for the title of world’s fastest boat.

But despite having worked on the project for the best part of 30 years and surrounding himself with experts from previous land and water-speed record attempts, the team is still some way off staging an attempt on the record itself.

Working with Ken Norris (chief designer of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird K7 , which set the water-speed record in 1964) construction of the craft’s steel spaceframe chassis was completed in 2002 and the team installed and fired up a 25,000hp Rolls-Royce Spey jet engine.

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However, neither the bodywork nor the complex control systems were finalised and the first iteration of the design was shelved following wind tunnel testing that suggested major stability issues.

Since then the team has gone through two further designs before landing on the current twin-cockpit version (pictured above). Concept 4, as it is currently known, sees the engine mounted towards the front of the central hull.

The 25,000hp Rolls-Royce Spey jet engine has since been replaced by a 10,000hp Mk 101 version from a Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer bomber.

This will be mounted into an all-new hull that is being built from kevlar and Baltek, a highly-engineered balsawood material produced by 3A Composites SA of Switzerland.

Once complete, this will be coated in a thin layer of fibreglass before being mounted to the pre-existing steel spaceframe.

Ken Norris is no longer chief designer, but his ideas are being taken forward by Ron Ayers, Lorne Campbell, Mike Green and Roland Snell.

The Quicksilver team say that they will reuse almost all of the hardware acquired for previous iterations of the design, thus speeding up the construction process, but no launch date has yet been set.

Find out more on the official Quicksilver water-speed record website .

Spirit of Australia II

Of the four teams currently challenging for the title of world’s fastest boat, team Warby is the only one to have a working boat.

Spirit of Australia II is an updated version of the hydroplane design Ken used to set the original record in 1978, with better aerodynamics and a 9,000hp Westinghouse J-34 jet engine.

It hit the water in December 2004 and in 2007 Ken handed over the reins to his son David, who hit 314kmh (218mph) on a testing run on Blowering Lake in 2018. However, floating debris caused damage to one of the fins and in the subsequent years, the tailplane has also been replaced as well as the engines, which are now Bristol Siddeley Orpheus units.

“The old boat was never flat out even when I broke the record last time, so the new one will go a whole lot faster,” Warby Sr claims. “The driving is the easy bit. You just sit in it and put your foot down. The trouble is that you’ve only got a 50/50 chance of still being alive at the other end.”

Spirit of Australia II’s most recent test run in November 2022 was hampered by crosswinds. Further speed runs were due to take place in February 2023, before the news of Ken’s passing. It’s not yet clear how this will affect the project, but further delays seem likely.

Find out more on the official Warby Motorsport website .

Photo: facebook.com/jethydroplaneuk

Another British challenger, Jet Hydroplane UK is headed up by David Aldred, who supplied the Orpheus engines for K777 , an experimental Bluebird K7 replica that was launched in 2011 and was retired in 2014.

His new project, Longbow is powered by twin Rolls Royce Viper turbojet engines and will be piloted by David-John Gibbs, a Formula 4 powerboat racer and flight examiner at RAF Cranwell.

Far from being threatened by this challenge, David Warby offered his technical support to the Longbow project.

In the latest update on the Jet Hydroplane UK website, Aldred revealed that the jet engine cradle is currently being fitted.

Find out more on the official Jet Hydroplane UK website .

Construction of Dartagnan SP600 was completed in October 2016 Photo: Facebook.com/DartagnanSp600

Dartagnan SP600

As if this wasn’t enough, there is a fourth project vying to become the world’s fastest boat. Dartagnan SP600 was built by Belgian offshore racer Daniel Dehaemers, who passed away in June 2018.

The project is reportedly due to be revived by his former teammates, so watch this space…

Find out more on Dartagnan SP600’s official Facebook page .

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24 Hour Distance

Outright: Pre-WSSR 1854 "Champion of the Sea" 225ft Clipper, USA, 467nm. 19.46kts 1984 "Formule Tag" 80ft Cat, Mike Birch, CAN, 512.5nm. 21.35kts 1987 "Fleury Michon VIII" 75ft Tri, Philippe Poupon, FRA, 517nm. 21.54kts 1990 "Jet Services V" 75ft Cat, Serge Madec, FRA, 522.73nm. 21.85kts 1994 "Lyonnaise des Eaux"75ft Tri, Olivier de Kersauson, FRA, 524.63nm. 21.91kts

WSSR Ratified 1994 "Primagaz" 60ft Tri, Laurent Bourgnon, FRA, 540nm. 22.5kts 1994 "Explorer" 86ft Cat, Bruno Peyron, FRA, 547.3nm. 22.86kts 1999 "PlayStation" 105ft Cat , Steve Fossett, USA, 580.23nm. 24.18kts 2000 "Club Med" 110ft Cat, Grant Dalton, NZL, 625.7nm , 26.07kts 2001 "Club Med" 110ft Cat, Grant Dalton, NZL, 655.2nm, 27.3kts 2001 "PlayStation" 125ft Cat, Steve Fossett, USA, 687.17nm. 28.63kts 2002 "Maiden 2" 110ft Cat, Co-Skippers Adrienne Cahalan, Helena Darvelid and Brian Thompson 694.78nm. 28.95kts 2004 "Orange II" 120ft Cat, Bruno Peyron, FRA, 706.2nm.29.42kts 2006 "Orange II" 120ft Cat, Bruno Peyron, FRA, 766.8nm. 31.95kts 2007 "Groupama 3" 103 ft Tri, Franck Cammas FRA, 794nm, 33.08 kts 2009 "Banque Populaire 5 131 ft Tri, Pascal Bidegorry FRA, 908.2nm 37.84 kts

Up to 60 foot. 1994 "Primagaz" 60ft Tri, Laurent Bourgnon, FRA, 540nm. 22.5kts 2006 "Mediatis-Region Aquitane" 60ft Cat, Yves Parlier FRA and 5 crew 597.81nm. 24.91 kts 2006 "Brossard" 60 ft Tri, Yvan Bourgnon SUI, 610.45 nm. 25.76 kts 2007 "Banque Populaire" 60ft Tri, Pascal Bidegorry, FRA, 667nm, 27.8kts

Singlehanded. 1994 "Primagaz" 60ft Tri, Laurent Bourgnon, FRA, 540nm. 22.5kts 2005 "Idec" 90ft Tri, Francis Joyon, FRA, 542.7nm. 22.6kts 2006 "Mediatis-Region Aquitane" 60ft Cat, Yves Parlier FRA, 586.00 nm 24.41 kts 2006 "Brossard" 60ft Tri, Yvan Bourgnon SUI, 610.45 nm. 25.76 kts 2007 "Idec" 98ft Tri, Francis Joyon, FRA, 613.5nm 25.56kts 2007 "Sodebo" 105 ft Tri, Thomas Coville FRA,619.3 nm, 25,8 kts 2008 "Sodebo" 105ft Tri, Thomas Coville FRA, 628.5 nm, 26.2 kts 2012 "IDEC" 95ft Tri, Francis Joyon FRA, 666.2NM, 27.75 kts 2014 "Banque Populaire 7" 103ft Tri. Armel Le Cleac'h FRA, 682.85M, 28.45 kts 2016 "Sodebo4" 120ft Tri, Thomas Coville FRA, 718.5NM, 29.93 kts 2016 "MACIF" 100ft Tri, Francois Gabart FRA, 784NM, 32.67 kts 2017 "MACIF" 100ft Tri, Francois Gabart FRA 850.68NM. 35.45 kts

Singlehanded, up to 60 foot. 1994 "Primagaz" 60ft Tri, Laurent Bourgnon, FRA, 540nm. 22.5kts 2006 "Mediatis-Region Aquitane" 60ft Cat, Yves Parlier FRA, 586.00 nm 24.41 kts 2006 "Brossard" 60 ft Tri, Yvan Bourgnon SUI, 610.45 nm. 25.76 kts

Monohull. 1994 "Intrum Justitia" 64ft, Lawrie Smith, GBR, 428nm. 17.83kts 1997 "Toshiba" 64ft, Dennis Connor, USA, 434.4nm, 18.1kts 1997 "Silk Cut" 64ft, Lawrie Smith, GBR, 449.1nm. 18.71kts 2002 "Illbruck" 64ft, John Kostecki, USA, 484nm. 20.16kts 2003 "MariCha IV" 140ft, Robert Miller, GBR, 525.7nm, 21.9kts 2005 "Movistar" 70ft, Bouwe Becking, NED, 530.19nm, 22.09kts 2005 "ABN AMRO ONE" 70ft, Mike Sanderson, NZL 546.14nm, 22.75kts 2006 "ABN AMRO TWO" 70ft, Sebastien Josse, FRA, 562.96 nm, 23.45kts 2008 "Ericsson 4" 70ft, Torben Grael BRA, 596.6nm, 24.85kt 2015 "Comanche" 100ft, Jim Clark/Ken Read USA, 618.01nm, 25.75kts 2023. "Holcim PRB", Kevin Escoffier. FRA. 640.48nm. 26.68kts*

Monohull, singlehanded 2000 "Union Bancaire Privee" 60ft, Dominique Wavre, FRA, 430.7nm. 17.94kts 2003 "AT Racing" 60ft, Alex Thomson, GBR, 468.72nm. 19.53kts 2012 "Macif" 60ft, Francois Gabart, FRA, 534.48nm. 22.27kts 2017. "Hugo Boss" Alex Thomson. GBR. 536.81nm. 22.36kts

Monohull, up to 60 foot. 2000 "Union Bancaire Privee" 60ft, Dominique Wavre, FRA, 430.7nm. 17.94kts 2001 "Armor Lux" 60ft, Bernard Stamm, SUI, 467.7nm, 19.48kts 2003 "AT Racing" 60ft, Alex Thompson, GBR, 468.72nm. 19.53kts 2007 "Hugo Boss" 60ft Alex Thomson/Andrew Cape, GBR, 501.3nm, 20.9kts 2011 "Virbac Paprec" 60ft, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron FRA, 506.333 M 21.1 kts 2012 "Macif" 60ft, Francois Gabart, FRA, 534.48nm, 22.27kts 2017. "Hugo Boss" Alex Thomson. GBR 536.81nm. 22.36kts 2018. "Hugo Boss", Alex Thomson. GBR. 539.71nm. 22.49kts 2023. "Holcim PRB", Kevin Escoffier. FRA. 595.26nm. 24.80kts 2023. "Holcim PRB", Kevin Escoffier. FRA. 640.48nm. 26.68kts* * On 26 May 2023 ‘Team Malizia’ achieved 640.70 NM which was a longer distance, but not by a sufficient margin to claim it (rule 26.4.)

40 ft Outright 2021. "Credit Mutuel" Ian Lipinski. FRA. 428.53nm. 17.86kts

20 ft Performance 2019. "Nacra" Mathis Bourgnon. FRA. 344.06nm. 14.34kts

Copyright 2022 World Sailing Speed Record Council. All rights reserved.

The deadly history of the water speed world record

Breaking the official world water speed record, or in other words, building and piloting the world’s fastest boat , is one of the most dangerous challenges in existence.

The current record has stood for over 45 years – it belongs to Australia’s Ken Warby (1939–2023), who reached a speed of 317.58 mph (511.09 km/h) in his jet-powered hydroplane Spirit of Australia in 1978.

Warby survived several record attempts and lived to the old age of 83, however, most of the others who took on this challenge were not so lucky – seven of the 13 people to have attempted it since 1930 were killed in the process.

The first of the fatalities came in June 1930, when famed British driver Sir Henry Seagrave, holder of the land speed record at the time, attempted to take the water speed record from the USA’s Garfield Wood, who had repeatedly broken it throughout the 1920s with his Miss America series of boats.

Piloting Miss England II , which was powered by two Rolls-Royce aircraft engines, Seagrave became the first person to break the 100-mph barrier, doing so on the first of his two runs. After completing the second, he set a new world record with an average speed of 98.8 mph (158.9 km/h).

However, on the third run, at over 100 mph, the boat flipped over, resulting in the deaths of both Seagrave and his chief engineer, Victor Halliwell.

Miss England II was salvaged and repaired, and Irishman Kaye Don was selected as the new driver to continue the rivalry with Gar Wood’s Miss America boats. The record passed back and forth between them several times, culminating with Wood creating Miss America X , powered by four supercharged plane engines, to reach a speed of 124.8 mph (200.9 km/h). Neither Don nor Wood attempted the record again, and both went on to live into their 90s.

In 1937, British motor racer Sir Malcolm Campbell, who’d broken the land speed record nine times and become the first person drive over 300 mph, set his sights on the water. He piloted the Blue Bird K3 , which was more compact than Miss America X and had only one engine, to a new record of 126.3 mph (203.3 km/h), and by 1939, he’d increased it to 141.7 mph (228.1 km/h).

After the conclusion of World War II, Campbell experimented with jet-engine propulsion, but he wasn’t able to attempt the record again before he passed away in 1948 aged 63. 

The third person to die while attempting the record was London stockbroker John Cobb, another land speed record holder. In 1952, on Scotland’s Loch Ness, after reaching an estimated speed of 210 mph (338 km/h) in his jet-powered Crusader , the craft disintegrated and Cobb was killed.

Two years later, an Italian man named Mario Vergra, piloting a piston-engined hydroplane, also died while attempting the record.

By that point, Sir Malcolm Campbell's son, Donald , had been working to take the record, and in 1955 he did it, reaching a speed of 202.3 mph (325.6 km/h) in his Bluebird K7 . Campbell broke the record six more times over the next nine years, taking it to 276.3 mph (444.7 km/h) and becoming the most prolific water speed record breaker in history.

However, just like Seagrave and Cobb before him, Campbell was another land-speed racer who met his untimely end on the water. In 1967, while travelling at an estimated speed of 320 mph, Bluebird took off into the air, did a flip, then plunged nose-first into the water, killing Campbell instantly.

Later in the year, an American named Lee Taylor claimed the record by reaching a speed of 285 mph (459 km/h), three years after severely injuring himself trying to do it.

Ken Warby’s record attempt

Following Campbell’s death, public interest in the record seemed to wane until 10 years later, when Australian Ken Warby took on the challenge. Up to that point, every record holder had been from either the USA, UK, or Ireland.

Warby first set the record in 1977 at Blowering Dam, where he had a straight nine-mile stretch of unbroken water to drive on.

Inspired by his hero Donald Campbell, Warby aimed to become the first person to break the 300-mph barrier and live to tell the tale.

Piloting his jet-powered Spirit of Australia , which he built in his backyard, Warby broke Taylor’s record with a speed of 288.6 mph (464.4 km/h).

A year later, Warby returned to Blowering Dam with an upgraded Spirit of Australia , which had been rebuilt with help from the Australian Air Force.

On 8 October 1978, Warby reached just over 305 mph on his first run, and on his second run he pushed it up to 328 mph, setting a new world record with an average speed of 317.58 mph (511.09 km/h).

Over 45 years on, Warby’s record still stands, and both official attempts at breaking it have resulted in the drivers’ deaths.

Lee Taylor built a rocket-powered boat to try and take back the record in 1980, but he perished while doing a test run in unfavourable conditions on Lake Tahoe. And almost a decade later, in 1989, an American named Craig Arfons passed away after his hydroplane somersaulted at over 350 mph (560 km/h).

Despite the deadly nature of this record, there are still people who are trying to break it.

Ken Warby was working on Spirit of Australia II before his death, and now his son David is continuing the project.

Richard Noble, project director of the ThrustSSC , which currently holds the land speed record (763 mph; 1,228 km/h), announced in 2022 that his team are also planning to beat Warby’s record.

Additionally, multiple teams from Britain and one from Belgium have ongoing projects aimed at exceeding it.

Whether they’ll be able to do it remains to be seen, but it begs the question: how many more lives will be lost in pursuit of this record?

Want more? Follow us on Google News  and across our social media channels to stay up-to-date with all things Guinness World Records! You can find us on Facebook , Twitter/X , Instagram , Threads ,  TikTok , LinkedIn , and Snapchat Discover . Don't forget to check out our videos on YouTube  and become part of our group chat by following the Guinness World Records  WhatsApp channel . Still not had enough? Click here  to buy our latest book, filled to the brim with stories about our amazing record breakers.

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Syroco: Radical design aiming to set a new speed record

• Toby Heppell
• April 6, 2022

Aiming to set a new record for the world's fastest sailboat, the Syroco team have come up with a radical concept, can the beat current record holder Sailrocket and competition SP80?

If having a top-flight speed sailor as a part of your team taking on the challenge of creating the world’s fastest sailboat is a mark of potential, then Syroco certainly starts off in impressive style.

Alex Caizergues is due to pilot as they attempt to break the world speed sailing record and is the co-founder of the project. He has a wealth of speed sailing records and wins to his name, including holding the outright world speed sailing record on two occasions on his kitesurfer.

Additionally, Caizergues has won the Kite Speed World Championship four times. So he certainly knows his stuff when it comes to going fast on the water and could well be a key part in this team’s ambition to create the fastest sailboat ever recorded.

The Syroco concept – named after the ‘sirocco’ warm wind originating in the sandy expanses of the Sahara desert – is essentially made up of three components: the hull or module; a kite, which provides driving force; and a hydrofoil, the purpose of which is to compensate for the vertical force and to provide a counter to the forces generated from the kite. This foil is on a long vertical with a T-foil at it’s base.

Article continues below…

SP80: Swiss team hoping to build the fastest sailboat

SP80 was conceived by three graduates of Swiss engineering school, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Benoît Gaudiot, Xavier Lepercq and…

Fastest sailboats: The teams aiming to break 80 knots

On 24 November 2012, Paul Larsen and his Sailrocket team rewrote our understanding of the physics of sailboats, stamping their…

The foil and the kite operate in tandem, so if the kite flies higher in the air the foil will rotate to sit deeper in the water and if the kite is closer to the surface, the foil will be move to be more horizontally aligned with the surface.

The Syroco prototype under test being towed by a RIB. Photo: Syroco

Although we may be used to foils operating as lifting surfaces, the foil used by the French-based Syroco team will broadly be used to keep the whole craft in the sea and prevent it flying off. In theory this balancing of forces from the foil and the power-generating kite, means the harder the kite pulls, the more negative lift will be required on the foil to maintain the equilibrium.

Clearly the faster the craft travels, the more drag is induced by the foil, but other than this, the forces should match up to create a situation where more power simply develops more speed, which develops more apparent wind and so power etc.

As with the current fastest sailboat in the world, Vestas Sailrocket 2 , the team is looking into supercavitating foils – clearly an essential part of the project should they achieve their goal of 80 knots.

The Syroco team have already done some testing on a small prototype and, all going well, hope to be able to make an attempt on the record in 2022. They are up against another team in SP80 who are also looking to becoming the world’s fastest sailboat and are working to a similar timescale.

Follow the progress of Syrocco at their website.

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