Emirates Team New Zealand and Glenn Ashby’s World Record Run of 222.43km/h in Horonuku was widely celebrated when achieved on December the 11th 2022, breaking the previous record of 202.9km/h by Richard Jenkins which had been unbroken for over 13 years.
But, as revealed in ‘Land of Speed’ the documentary covering the Emirates Team New Zealand land speed campaign, the new world record was relatively short lived as Pilot Glenn Ashby explains of the opportunistic window presented to the team.
“In February we were really coming back to the lake pack up the craft. We had to get Horonuku and the containers back to New Zealand. But a few days out, Clouds our Meteorologist indicated there was a possible weather opportunity, so we rattled our daggs and got to the lake.”
We weren’t sure if the conditions were going to come good, so we kept pretty quiet about it.” said Ashby
Like the previous world record run in December, the required wind speed was only going to last for a matter of hours so the team had to be ready to roll. And right on dusk on the 24th February Ashby sailed Horonuku into the record books one more time clocking 225.58km/h.
“Pretty much two days before pack up, we’ve actually set a new benchmark for the world’s fastest wind powered craft, superseding our own previous record by over 3km/h so it was a huge bonus.”
Both world records were made all the more satisfying for Ashby and the team given that had the record not been broken on December 11th, there was not a single other weather window until those select few hours in February 24th. And had that record run not been achieved that day in February- there has not been another opportunity since then.
“One of the strengths of the team is being prepared to make the most of any opportunity, and really that was one of the secrets to the success.” said Ashby
When asked if Horonuku could go any faster, Ashby is quick to answer to the affirmative, “Absolutely! We have no doubt we can go a lot faster, you always want to go quicker all the time, but I think you’ve got to pull up stumps at some stage and be stoked with our speeds. We have pushed some pretty big boundaries with this project.
You’ve got to enjoy the journey along the way but sometimes when you get to the destination, it’s pretty nice as well. So we set a new benchmark and couldn’t be happier.
We might a get a chance again to get Horonuku out in more breeze in the future but for now we are very content with 225.58km/h.”
