Boatshed Cowes got this hot off the press from County Press Online.

Sailor Paul Larsen in the cockpit of Sailrocket 2, the Isle of Wight boat that has smashed the world speed sailing record. Picture courtesy of www.sailrocket.com

A BOAT designed and built by a team on the Isle of Wight has smashed the world speed sailing record this evening (Friday).

The Vestas Sailrocket 2 team announced they had achieved an average speed of 59 knots, beating the previous record of 55.65 knots held by US kite-surfer Robert Douglas since 2010.

The record-breaking effort was made off the coast of Nambia at about 5.30pm UK time.

The boat was designed and built by a team based at Vestas Research and Development on the Isle of Wight and was launched on the River Medina in March 2011.