Biodiesel-powered Earthrace east of Azores en route to Puerto Rico as world record attempt gets underway

May 1, 2008

The biodiesel-powered trimaran, Earthrace, attempting to break the global circumnavigation record for powerboats, is east of the Azores today en route for Puerto Rico, after leaving Spain on Sunday.

Earthrace Captain Pete Bethune wrote “For those of you watching our speed closely, you may have noticed it dropped off over the last 24 hours. The reason was a blockage in the lift pump.” The Earthrace is now undertaking the longest single leg of its global voyage. GPS tracking of the trimaran is available at the earthrace.net website.

The B100-powered, 78-foot trimaran Earthrace aims to circumnavigate the globe in 65 days, beating the current record of 74 days. The $3 million trimaran failed on an earlier attempt on the record, and has spent the past year on a fundraising and publicity tour.