KEY POINTS:
The Earthrace eco-boat, skippered by New Zealander Pete Bethune, yesterday smashed the around-the-world speed record by 13 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes.
The giant trimaran, the world's fastest eco-boat, completed the 24,000km circumnavigation in 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes.
The boat crossed the finish line in Sagunto, Spain, at 2.24pm on Friday (1.24am, yesterday NZT), and completed the journey using 100 per cent biofuel to demonstrate and draw global attention to the potential for alternative fuel sources.
Earthrace is a 24m tri-hull wavepiercer built in New Zealand, and the record attempt, run by a team of international volunteers from New Zealand, Britain, Sweden, Guyana and Hungary, has been completed as a carbon-neutral project.
The boat and its crew set off from Spain on April 27 to challenge the world record that had remained unbroken since 1998, when it was set by the British boat, Cable and Wireless Adventurer.
Earthrace, a not-for-profit enterprise, has overcome many obstacles during its journey, the most challenging of which were the replacement of the boat's driveshaft and propeller after hitting sea debris in Palau, encountering monsoon conditions in the India Ocean, and bypassing a massive backlog of ships waiting to transit the Panama Canal.
Bethune, a former oil worker, has dedicated the past six years of his life towards smashing the record using biodiesel. An attempt last year was called off after encounters with three huge storms in the Mediterranean.
"Earthrace's success has proved that any form of transport, including marine, can be non-damaging to the environment as well as being high performance," said Bethune.
"This fantastic team of people and our amazing boat have broken the record by a massive margin, and I finally feel that all the sacrifices made, especially by my family, have been worth it."
- NZPA
