Team Brunel, a Volvo Ocean race yacht has arrived in Saint Lucia in an elapse time of 8d 7h 39m 30s. This is the third consecutive year that the course record has been beaten. Last year Mike Slade’s super-maxi Farr 100 Leopard by Finland took over two days off the previous record set by Caro, a Knierim 65 in 2013. ‘Near-perfect’ conditions for this year’s crossing have seen Team Brunel propelled towards Saint Lucia and into the ARC history books for breaking the record on the rally’s 30th edition.

The 15 strong crew on the round the world racing yacht consists of five professional sailors and ten experienced amateurs who were chasing a bucket list adventure and they have not been disappointed! From the day ARC 2015 set sail from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Team Brunel has sprinted to the sun-soaked shores of Saint Lucia, with an average speed of 13.5kts and top wave surfing speeds of double that at times. Persistent north easterly winds due to the well-established Azores High have allowed them to zig-zag the rhumb line route for much of their crossing. Interestingly, the total distance covered on their transatlantic route is greater than the two previous record holders at 3342 miles.

Their ARC experience has not been without drama, however, and on Sunday, on-board reporter Koen Lockefeer announced a potentially disastrous mainsail tear had occurred during a routine gybe. After a night reefed down, it was all hands on deck for a race ready repair the following morning.

‘Johnny and Tomas started to organize the ripped sail part, climbing up the end of the swinging boom. They tied the top and bottom end of the sail together with lashes between the sail battens as if the ripped middle part had never been there. All hands on deck again to hoist the sail to max height, about as high as 1.5 reef and carefully sheet in the main again. To everyone’s joy the boat started speeding off again. The broken mainsail and subsequent repair were a very close escape from not finishing at all,’ said Koen.

Team Brunel were welcomed to Saint Lucia at 16:24 local time (20:24 GMT) and greeted by representatives from the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and IGY Rodney Bay Marina. The crew were presented with champagne and welcome basket of island gifts to celebrate their arrival.