Since the five-weeks voyage of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 in 1492, crossing the Atlantic, fast and safely, between Europe and America has always been an important issue. Today, the route has become a classic one among skippers. The record is one of the most prestigious, next to the Jules Verne Trophy

Jules Verne Trophy

The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the...

, for which it is often a good preparation.

This record can be achieved both ways : from west to east or from east to west. It can also be homologated single-handed or crewed, on monohulls or on multihull

Multihull

A multihull is a ship, vessel, craft or boat with more than one hull.-Description:Multihulls include: Proas, which have two differently shaped or sized hulls with lateral symmetry; catamarans, which have two hulls with longitudinal symmetry; and trimarans, which have a main hull in the center and...

s.
It is homologated, since 1972, by the WSSRC

From west to east

This route is the fastest, as it follows the main winds. It is the one that meets the most interest among skippers.
The crossing must be made from Ambrose Light

Ambrose Light

Ambrose Light, often called Ambrose Tower, was a light station at the convergence of several major shipping lanes in Lower New York Bay, including Ambrose Channel, the primary passage for ships entering and departing the Port of New York and New Jersey....

 of (New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

) to an imaginary line linking Lizard Point, Cornwall

Lizard Point, Cornwall

Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and approximately 11 miles southeast of Helston....

 to Ushant

Ushant

Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...

. The distance is around 2880 nautical miles (5,333.8 km).

Crewed

Year	Time	Av. speed	Skipper	Yacht	Type	Crew
2009	3d 15h 25min 48s	32.94 knots	Pascal Bidégorry Pascal Bidegorry Pascal Bidégorry, born the 15th January 1968 in Bayonne , is a french yachtsman and sailing champion.He entered the Team Banque Populaire in 2004 as the skipper of the trimaran Banque Populaire IV....	Banque Populaire V Banque Populaire V The offshore-racing trimaran Banque Populaire V is Team Banque Populaire's fifth boat designed to set oceanic records. She was launched on October 4, 2008 in Nantes, France....	Trimaran Trimaran A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...	Ronan Lucas, Kévin Escoffier, Yvan Ravussin, Ewen Le Clech, Sébastien Audigane, Florent Chastel, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, Emmanuel Le Borgne, Marcel Van Triest, Pierre-Yves Moreau, Xavier Revil
2007	4d 3h 57min 54s	29.81 knots	Franck Cammas Franck Cammas Franck Cammas is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, as well as a piano academy, Franck Cammas finally opted for a career in sailing...	Groupama 3 Groupama 3 Groupama 3 is a French maxi-multihull sailing yacht designed for transoceanic record-setting. It is one of the fastest ocean-going sailing vessels in the world, and is the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy...	Trimaran	Franck Proffit, Stève Ravussin, Frédéric Le Peutrec, Sébastien Audigane, Yann Guichard, Ronan Le Goff, Bruno Jeanjean, Loïc Le Mignon, Pascal Blouin
2006	4d 8h 23min 54s	28.54 knots	Bruno Peyron Bruno Peyron Bruno Tristan Peyron is a French yachtsman who, along with his crew on the catamaran Orange II, broke the outright round-the-world sailing record in March 2005. He was the first winner of the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994, for completing a round-the-world trip in under 80 days...	Orange II Orange II Orange II is a large catamaran designed for ocean racing, a "maxicat". The boat is 36.80 m long and has a 45 m mast. It is one of the fastest ocean-going sailing vessels in the world...	Catamaran Catamaran A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...	Roger Nilson, Bernard Stamm, Ludovic Aglaor, Florent Chastel, Pascal Bidégorry Pascal Bidegorry Pascal Bidégorry, born the 15th January 1968 in Bayonne , is a french yachtsman and sailing champion.He entered the Team Banque Populaire in 2004 as the skipper of the trimaran Banque Populaire IV.... , Jacques Caraes, Ronan Le Goff, Jean-Baptiste Epron, Yann Guichard, Clément Surtel, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant
2001	4d 17h 28min 6s	26.26 knots	Steve Fossett Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...	PlayStation Playstation (yacht) PlayStation is one of several large catamarans created for the 2000 around the world race known as The Race. Like its competitors, PlayStation was created for sheer speed, pushing the state of the art in materials, construction, and operation...	Catamaran	Stan Honey, Ben Wright, Dave Scully, Gino Morrelli, Peter Hogg, Shaun Biddulph, Dave Calvert, Paul Van Dyke, David Weir
1990	6d 13h 3min 32s	18.97 knots	Serge Madec	Jet Service V	Catamaran
1988	7d 6h 32min	17.07 knots	Serge Madec	Jet Service V	Catamaran	Marc Guillemot
1987	7d 12h 49min 34s	16.48 knots	Philippe Poupon	Fleury Michon VIII	Trimaran
1985	7d 21h 5min 42s	15.76 knots	Loïc Caradec	Royale 2	Catamaran
1984	8d 16h 36min	14.29 knots	Patrick Morvan	Jet Services 2	Catamaran	Jean Le Cam Jean Le Cam Jean Le Cam is a French sailor.Le Cam was crewman with Éric Tabarly and Michel Desjoyeaux, and won the Solitaire du Figaro in 1994, 1996 and 1999. He later took interest in multihull ships.... , Marc Guillemot, (Serge Madec)
1981	9d 10h 6min 34s	13.18 knots	Marc Pajot Marc Pajot Yves Pajot is a French sailor. He won a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman Class with his brother Yves at the 1972 Summer Olympics. From 1987 to 2000 he competed four times at the Louis Vuitton Cup .-References:...	Elf Aquitaine 1	Catamaran
1980	10d 5h 14min 20s	12.15 knots	Éric Tabarly Éric Tabarly Éric Tabarly was a notable French yachtsman.A former officer in the French navy who is often considered the father of French yachting....	Paul Ricard	Trimaran	Éric Bourhis, Georges Calvé, Dominique Pipat
1905	12d 4h 1min 19s	10.20 knots	Charlie Barr Charlie Barr Charlie Barr , was an accomplished sailing skipper who captained the winning yacht in the America's Cup three times.-Early life:...	Atlantic Atlantic (yacht) The Atlantic was built in 1903 by Townsend and Downey shipyard, and designed by William Gardner, for Wilson Marshall. The three-masted schooner was skippered by Charlie Barr and it held the record for fastest transatlantic passage by a monohull in the 1905 Kaiser's Cup race...	Schooner Schooner A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....	A record for monohull Monohull rightA monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another.-Fundamental concept:... s which stood until 2002

Single-handed

Year	Arrived	Skipper	Sailboat	Time	Average speed
2008	15 July	Thomas Coville	trimaran Sodeb'O	5d 19h 29min 20s	20.97 knots (41.1 km/h)
2005	6 July	Francis Joyon Francis Joyon Francis Joyon is a professional sail boat racer and yachtsman, and currently holds the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation....	trimaran IDEC	6d 4h 1min 37 s	19.75 knots (38.7 km/h)
1994	June	Laurent Bourgnon	trimaran Primagaz	7d 2h 34min and 42 sec	17.47 knots (34.2 km/h)

From east to west

This crossing is made between Cadix

Cadix

Cadix was the codename of a World War II clandestine Polish-French intelligence center that operated at Uzès, on the Mediterranean coast in southern, Vichy France, for over two years from September 1940 to November 9, 1942.-History:...

 and San Salvador Island

San Salvador Island

San Salvador Island, also known as Watlings Island, is an island and district of the Bahamas. Until 1986, when the National Geographic Society suggested Samana Cay, it was widely believed that during his first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land sighted and visited...

, for a distance of 8300 kilometres or 4481 nautical miles (8,298.8 km). It was also called Road of the discovery in honor of Christopher Colombus and his 1492 crossing.

Crewed

Year	Time	Av. speed	Skipper	Sailboat	Type	Crew
2007	7d 10h 58min 53s	25.04 knots (49.1 km/h)	Franck Cammas Franck Cammas Franck Cammas is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, as well as a piano academy, Franck Cammas finally opted for a career in sailing...	Groupama 3 Groupama 3 Groupama 3 is a French maxi-multihull sailing yacht designed for transoceanic record-setting. It is one of the fastest ocean-going sailing vessels in the world, and is the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy...	trimaran Trimaran A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...	Franck Proffit, Stève Ravussin, Pascal Blouin, Loic Le Mignon, Bruno Jeanjean, Sébastien Audigane, Frédéric Le Peutrec, Ronan Le Goff, Marcel Van Triest
2003	9d 13h 30min 18s	19.52 knots (38.3 km/h)	Steve Fossett Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...	Playstation Playstation (yacht) PlayStation is one of several large catamarans created for the 2000 around the world race known as The Race. Like its competitors, PlayStation was created for sheer speed, pushing the state of the art in materials, construction, and operation...	catamaran Catamaran A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...	…
2000	10d 14h 53min 44s	17.58 knots (34.5 km/h)	Grant Dalton Grant Dalton -Background:Grant Dalton is a professional sailor who started sailing at the age 8 in the P Class and soon started racing as a member of Maraeti Beach Boating Club...	Club Med	catamaran Catamaran A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...	Franck Proffit, …
1988	12d 12h 30min 27s	14.91 knots (29.2 km/h)	Serge Madec	Jet Service V	catamaran Catamaran A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...	…

Single-handed

Year	Arrived	Skipper	Sailboat	Time	Average speed
2008	7 November	Francis Joyon Francis Joyon Francis Joyon is a professional sail boat racer and yachtsman, and currently holds the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation....	trimaran IDEC Trimaran IDEC Trimaran IDEC or Idec 2 is a maxi-trimaran skippered by Francis Joyon and sponsored par groupe IDEC.The main goal of Francis Joyon was to regain the single-handed round-the-world record from Ellen MacArthur...	9d 20h 35m 3s	18.94 knots (37.1 km/h)
2005	8 July	Thomas Coville	trimaran Sodebo	10d 11h 50m 20s	17.79 knots (34.9 km/h).
2004		Francis Joyon Francis Joyon Francis Joyon is a professional sail boat racer and yachtsman, and currently holds the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation....		11d 3h 18m 20s	16.76 knots (32.8 km/h)