Sailor makes new record for the longest laser sail in Asia
by Nancy Knudsen on 3 Jun 2014
Heading for the horizon - Yassine Darkaoui takes off on his Andaman Laser Challenge Adelaide
This week a young man without significant sponsorship and without a support boat became the record-holder for the longest distance sail, non-stop and unassisted, in a laser in Asia. Yassine Darkaoui believes he is also the world record holder for the longest time sailing a laser - also non-stop and unassisted.
After 77 hours non-stop sailing, unable to sit any more, reduced to sailing the last 20kms standing up, Yassine Darkaoui had completed 211.85nm. He had been plagued for many hours of windlessness, which robbed him of his goal - to sail for 301nm.
The record he was trying to break was that of Tania Elías Calles Wolf, a Mexican Olympian laser sailor who, in 2010, sailed 300nm non-stop in a Laser.
Yassine, who had been quietly training for many months, sailed around a self-designed course of ‘loops’ in the Phuket area – around Phuket, Phi Phi and Racha, all recorded on a GPS. He set off without a support boat (not forthcoming) and without insurance (no offers). He had received a small amount of sponsorship from UK Sailmakers and Sail-World Asia.
As Yassine expressed it, he 'sailed out, having in mind the testing of his own limits.'
Sometimes you fall short of your highest goals but achieve others on the way and earn the respect that always goes to those who aspire and give it their best.
His friends, supporters and Sail-World congratulate him on a fine accomplishment
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