Boat Trip To Jersey Could Set New World Record

An Irish boat will be running from Cork to Jersey next week - and the journey could be used to try and set a new world record.

The Thunder Child II will be in the island for this month's Jersey Boat Show.

The '54 knots' team will also be attempting the London to Monaco UIM endurance record after its trip to Jersey.

"We're using the journey from Cork to Jersey, which we think will be next Monday (6 June), as a trial run and we got confirmation from the UIN (Union Internationale Motonautique) that we can actually run it as a world record attempt if we want to.

So we might actually be announcing later this week that we've decided to do that.

This boat will do 100km an hour, which is fast on water, and we've got a range of between 750 and 800 miles. It's about 270/280 nautical miles from Cork to Jersey, we've got to go through some shipping lanes so we think we'll do it quite quickly.

We think we can probably do it quicker than you could if you got a commercial flight from Cork to London, hung around in an airport, and then came back from Jersey, but we'll find out next week!" - Nick Ogden, CEO.

The Thunder Child II already has three records - including for circumnavigating Ireland in just over 34 hours.

The endurance team is called 54 Knots because that is the top speed the Thunder Child II can reach.

They want islanders to guess how long their trip from Cork to Jersey will take, to be in with the chance of winning a trip onboard.

Entries close 30 minutes before they leave Cork and the winner will be told directly.

Entrants are being encouraged to make a donation to Jersey Hospice Care at the same time.

The charity is also running a raffle at the Jersey Boat Show to win a high-speed trip around Jersey, which potentially set a new around the island record.

"We are very grateful to Nick (Ogden) and his endurance team for supporting Hospice with such a generous initiative. A trip on Thunder Child II really is a once in a life-time opportunity!

Hospice is dedicated to providing personalised care to each patient and supporting those who are close to them - every entry or donation will go towards helping our patients live life to the full and make each day count." - Richard Tribe, Head of Fundraising at Jersey Hospice Care.