Race to the record books intensifies

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The international race among sailors, kite surfers and wind surfers to be the fastest wind-powered boat on the planet is rapidly gaining momentum as speeds reach all-time highs.

The outright world sailing speed record -- which did not change hands for 11 years after 1993 -- has been bettered four times this year alone.

The new holder of the record, Alexandre Caizergues, of France, claimed it with an average speed of 50.57 knots (almost 60 miles per hour) over 500 meters on his kite board off the coast of Namibia last month.

Caizergues' attempt was eventually ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) this month, when it was decided that kite boards would be eligible for the outright record.

Meanwhile, another Frenchman, Alain Thebault, has also been closely challenging for the record on his vessel l'Hydroptere. Thebault's crew hold the 500m speed record in the boat class, and also have the overall speed record in the one nautical mile category.

Then there is the Australian sailor hoping to spoil the party for the French .

Paul Larsen, aboard British yacht Vestas SailRocket, has unofficially nabbed the fastest boat record from l'Hydroptere with an average speed of 47.4 knots. Larsen achieved the speed in 22 knot winds, and shortly before his unusual "boat" became airborne and flipped.

Larsen's speed is just awaiting formal approval from the WSSRC. Thebault held the record with a speed of 46.88 knots.

Even the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race has had a speed record of its own with current leader Ericsson 4 claiming the world record for the most distance sailed in a 24-hour period during the event's first leg.

According to a spokesman from the WSSRC, interest in speed sailing is steadily building, and the close competition has been giving it a boost.

"Certainly towards the end of the year it's been very hectic. I think what has happened is that a number of competitors have been at the top end and they have all been competing against each other at the same venues.

The development of new technologies is one factor that has increased interest in trying to break these records.

"The fact that kite boards have developed has helped ... but there is still a lot of people out there that want to achieve these records," the spokesman said.

He said that a lot of syndicates had been involved in speed sailing for some time, and that many were only now starting to feel the benefits of their developmental work.

"It does seem if you are going for a specially designed boat it takes a few years before you get the design right," he said.

The spokesman said the WSSRC had received about 50 formal applications for speed attempts during 2008. He said the council's job was not to promote the attempts but simply to oversee them in a fair and independent manner and ratify successful efforts.

The WSSRC had a number of commissioners based around the world, he said.