Above: Phaedo 3
By the Caribbean Journal staff
This is the Caribbean’s fastest sailboat right now, and the competition isn’t really close.
It’s called Phaedo^3, and it just broke a 10-year-old course record at Antigua Sailing Week.
The 2015 edition of Antigua Sailing Week launched at the end of last week with the Guadeloupe to Antigua Race, and Phaedo^3 boat won it soundly.
The multihull Phaedo^3 blew away the existing course record, taking the 42-mile journey in 1 hour, 27 minutes with an average speed of 28 knots.
“The Guadeloupe Race record has stood for over 10 years, so it is pretty cool to break it, but if Phaedo was competing against other MOD 70s we would have needed to go faster,” said Lloyd Thornburg, who owns Team Phaedo. “The finish was difficult, we were approaching the shore at speed so we didn’t have much room as we bore away doing 30 knots through the finish line. Constant wind, clear blue skies and a fast ride – a fantastic day.”
Indeed, Thornburg’s Phaedo^3 has been on a victory binge of late in the multihull class, following a victory at the recent Les Voiles de St Barth earlier this month.
And yes, Phaedo set a record there, too. (And earlier this month sailing around the island of St Maarten).
— CJ