Who will beat the YACHT? Speed Challenge 2022 opens - record now at 17.4 knots

Last Saturday, the YACHT-tv video of the test of the First 36 premiered on YouTube. And at least one of the more than 10,000 viewers at the weekend watched the 40-minute production right to the end. That's when YACHT editor-in-chief Jochen Rieker called for a cheerful record hunt.

The First had produced an official 16.6 knots in the strong wind test off Fehmarn. The aim was to beat that.

It didn't take long. On Sunday, Wolle Heibeck, the inimitable master boat builder in the best sense of the word, launched his own creation "Black Maggy". You've already read about it many times on YACHT online and in the printed YACHT: a carbon one-off optimised by every trick in the book and specially extended for the Silverrudder. If you want to go deeper, please click: here or here or here or here.

What can we say: the bar is now at 17.4 knots. Captured in a mobile phone video that Wolle, as we know him, filmed single-handedly while he let his 40-foot racer fly through - or rather: over - the North Sea.

But there may be more to come. In any case, we are delighted that the Top Speed Challenge 2022 has picked up speed so quickly. And we look forward to more evidence of dedicated track conditions. Send us your videos or, even better, GPS tracks to mail@yacht.de, keyword Top Speed Challenge. Have fun with the chase!