On Friday 16 Nov Paul Larsen’s Vestas Sailrocket team broke the outright world speed sailing record over 500m with a speed of 59.23knots. The record speed, which is subject to ratification, smashed the previous record of 55.65knots set by kiteboard sailer Rob Douglas. Larsen’s peak speed during the run was a staggering 62.53 knots in winds of just 25knots.

Here’s a video of Larsen’s record breaking run on Friday:

Over the weekend the team was not expecting to sail but on Sunday the weather conditions perked up once again and the team ventured back out onto the course and nudged the bar even higher with a 59.38knot run over the 500m course while also increasing the one nautical mile record to 55.32knots. Vestas Sailrocket’s peak speed increased too to 63.98 knots.

The nautical mile record of 50.17 had been set in 2009 by Alain Thebault’s L’Hydroptere.