An Irish builder is starting work on a 75-foot James Bond-looking boat with four 650-hp Cat engines that is designed to set a new transatlantic speed record next summer. Frank Kowalski, the managing director of Safehaven Marine in Cork, says he hopes the boat, named Thunder Child 2, will make the crossing from St. John’s in Newfoundland to Killybegs in Ireland in less than four days.
Kowalski and Safehaven already have established themselves at the front of radical offshore designs and speed records. Their 60-foot monohull, Thunder Child 1, made a record-breaking circumnavigation of Ireland last year.
The design for Thunder Child 2 is a blend, starting with the bow of a wave-piercing monohull that morphs into a catamaran hull at midships. Safehaven has applied for a patent on the hull design. Kowalski says the new boat will cruise at 40 knots and top out at 50 knots, with a range of 800 nm.
Kowalski will deliver the boat to Newfoundland next spring and hope for a weather window starting in mid-July for the record attempt. Thunder Child 2 will run the northern route, close to the Arctic circle, some 2,400 nm for the record. It will refuel in Greenland and Iceland. Read more:
