In an age when records come and go almost at the blink of an eye, it might come as a surprise to know that the official world record for a powerboat transatlantic has stood unchallenged for 20 years. After all, isn’t this the same record that was challenged by the likes of Richard Branson’s “Virgin Atlantic Challenger II” in 1986, or the Aga Khan’s gas turbine-powered “Destriero” in 1992? Well, not quite. Both boats produced impressive times, but neither operated under the rules of the international governing body of powerboating – the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique).
At the time, the official route for a powerboat transatlantic was New York to Bishop’s Rock in the Scillies, which was indeed the route Branson’s boat took. Except he refuelled at sea, which is forbidden under UIM rules. And while “Destriero” produced impressively fast non-stop crossings in both directions, they weren’t registered with the UIM as record attempts (they were more interested in claiming the Blue Riband, and they failed to meet the rules for that, too.) It all became somewhat academic in 2000, when the UIM changed the finishing post for official powerboat transatlantics from Bishop’s Rock to Lizard Point, at the tip of the Cornish mainland.
It just so happened that “Spirit of Cardiff,” fresh from breaking the fastest port to port record set by the round the world record-holder “Cable & Wireless Adventurer” (Gibraltar to Monaco, October 2000), was being prepared to attack Adventurer’s final two port to port records from New York to the Azores, and Azores to Gibraltar in the spring of 2001. But with the newly changed finishing post for an official powerboat transatlantic, the board had been swept clean. By continuing from Gibraltar to Lizard Point, “Spirit of Cardiff” would be able to claim the official world record, albeit via a somewhat dogleg route.
Things didn’t go quite to plan, but “Spirit of Cardiff” did indeed complete the first official world record transatlantic under the new UIM rules in May 2001 with a time of 248 hours 47 minutes, and the record has stood unchallenged ever since. That transatlantic was the last big trip “Spirit of Cardiff” made before her attempt on the round the world record in 2002. In recognition of holding a major world record for 20 years, “Spirit of Cardiff” transatlantic record-holders Alan Priddy, Jan Falkowski, Steve Lloyd and Clive Tully will be appearing in a series of “On this day” posts on Team Britannia’s Facebook page, including many previously unpublished photos. The story is taken up as “Spirit of Cardiff” is established in New York prior to several weeks of promotion, touring ports along the eastern seaboard of the USA.
“On this day in 2001 – retracing Spirit of Cardiff’s record-setting transatlantic” will commence with its first post on 29th March 2021.
Yesterday saw 
They’ve decided too that the cabin floor will be made from 3/4 inch plywood, with substantial aluminium bracing underneath. With all six 6,000 litre fuel tanks and all the bulkheads in place, they’ve started attaching the deck panels, and the wheelhouse – already assembled – will soon be craned into place and welded on. If that isn’t exciting enough, I can also report that the engines are booked up to be installed in the first week of June. We’ve been down an extremely long tunnel, but the light at the end is now getting very close…
But it has led me to think about one or two changes, including starting a long overdue project – making a movie about my first attempt to break the record for circumnavigating the world by powerboat, which took place in 2002. It produced at the time a highly acclaimed book, “
So the plan, once I’ve transferred about 20 hours of video from MiniDV tapes on to a new computer, is to turn them into a full-length feature documentary. I recently bought the DVD of a British-made production called “Mission Control” (
It would be nice to say it was a pleasant surprise, but it had actually been on the cards for some time. Even so, when renowned TV adventurer Bear Grylls paid a visit to 
Team Britannia skipper Alan Priddy had remained in touch with Bear ever since 2003, when Alan, Jan Falkowski and I made a northern crossing of the Atlantic in the round the world RIB Spirit of Cardiff, just ahead of Bear’s own attempt via a similar route in an open RIB. Our crossing was quite a bit quicker (we set the unofficial record for a fastest transatlantic by RIB), but to be fair, we had a cabin and Bear didn’t, and that does make a big difference. And of course it wasn’t us that went on to make TV survival programmes which included the US President!
