Dinghy sailors at the MAC 24 Hour Challenge have finally broken the elusive world record for the maximum distance travelled in 24 hours in a sailing dinghy.
The Milnerton Aquatic Club (MAC) GP14 sailing dinghy – Team “Red Baron” headed by Axel Adelbert and Mark McCloed and another seven sailors – sailed into the history books when they completed 222 laps on a 1,15 km course set on Rietvlei, sailing 255,3 km.
The previous record stood at 253,3 km – set at West Lancashire Yacht Club in the United Kingdom at their annual 24 Hour Race which has been running every year since 1967.
South African sailors have had to be patient and wait 25 years for the right conditions to break the record.
The MAC 24 Hour Challenge set off on Saturday 2 April at noon.
The weekend saw perfect conditions for breaking the record with a very strong South Easter from the start Saturday at noon, which moderated at around 21:00 and blew steadily throughout the night.
This is fantastic news for the MAC 24 Hour event and for South African sailing.
