Two Australians who both grew up in the back of beyond in the north of Victoria now hold two special speed records. Glenn Ashby, backed up by his America’s Cup mates at Emirates Team New Zealand have smashed the wind-powered land speed record. On 11 December 2022 Glenn piloted the radical land yacht Horonuku to 222.4kph in just 22kts of wind on Lake Gairdner in South Australia. Ashby has broken the long-standing record of 202.9km/h recorded by Britain’s Richard Jenkins back in March 2009.
The other speed-seeking Aussie from the back down the 500m course in Walvis Bay, Namibia. With wind speed around 25kts, ran the 500m course at 65.45kts (121.21 km/h) with a 68.01kts (125.95 km/h) peak. Both records were ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) for the 500m and the mile and no one has since come close to beating that achievement.
