New round The World record

VX 40 loops Dubai's famous landmark in record time reports Diana Bogaards

On Sunday November 19 2006, Team Van Oord from the Netherlands broke the record around The World in Dubai by sixteen minutes. Peter de Ridder (Checkmate),
Hendrik Jan de Ridder, Roeland Franssens and Mark van Gelderen needed 1 hour and 42 minutes to circumnavigate the artificial archipelago with islands in the shape of the continents, constructed by Van Oord four kilometre off the coast of Dubai.

The Dutchmen sailed their Volvo Extreme 40 catamaran in moderate conditions and knew they could be quicker. As the wind picked up on the next day, they decided to do a second record attempt. Team Van Oord pushed hard, was much faster, but capsized in the sight of the finish. The carbon mast got stuck in the sea-bed and eventually broke.

The ‘Volvo Extreme around the World Challenge’ commenced with 12 knots of wind on Sunday. In the afternoon, Team Van Oord left the Jebel Ali Sailing Club next to the Palm Jumeirah and opposite from the Dubai International Marine Club, Team Alinghi’s base for this winter. The sky was clear and the sea not too choppy. Peter de Ridder, CEO of Van Oord and skipper of Checkmate, took the helm of the VX 40 to round his own project The World.

De Ridder said: “It started as a joke at one of the Volvo Ocean Race stopovers, but we managed to realize it.” The configuration measures seven by nine kilometre and features a twenty-five km breakwater. The total circumnavigation measures about twenty nautical miles. A local F18 team set the first record on 1 hour and 58 minutes. That was the time to beat, but the wind dropped during the attempt. De Ridder continued: “In the end we only had eight to nine knots left, but fortunately we were fast enough to set a new record.”



Dubai is well-known for its moderate sailing conditions, but on Monday the weather forecast was an exception to the rule. The wind would pick up to twenty knots in the afternoon with unusual rain showers. Team Van Oord prepared itself for a rough trip around The World. At 01:18:20 hours pm local time, the four Dutch sailors crossed the starting line at the southeast corner of the archipelago. It was already cloudy and soon the swell built up. The catamaran was flying a hull. After the northern point of The World, the breeze increased and Team Van Oord gained speed hitting twelve to sixteen knots going upwind. Roeland Franssens: “I thought of a third record attempt, because you will never get those fantastic circumstances again.”

The team then hoisted the kite for the last two legs towards the finish. De Ridder: “I think we could easily have finished within 1 hour and 25 minutes.” But at 02:40 hours pm, it went wrong in the very last gybe - with just a few minutes to go. De Ridder: “I steered too fast, so after the main came over, we immediately went upwind and I could not alter our course anymore. I probably was too eager to break the record.” The forty foot catamaran capsized slowly with only Mark van Gelderen on the windward hull. After the mast hit the water, it went down quickly and got stuck in the sea-bed. A squall came over and made it all look somewhat unreal - especially, because Dubai had not experienced heavy rain showers since February 2006.



The first attempt to rescue the catamaran failed. The shore crew on the motorboat tried to upright the VX 40, but the pressure on the carbon mast was too much. It broke at about 3:15 hours pm. The crew contacted the local Van Oord office. They sent three tugboats and it was the Nikki that towed the unfortunate sailors and their boat to the Palm. Hendrik Jan de Ridder, Peter de Ridder’s nephew, works for Van Oord and is responsible for the construction of the beaches of the Palm, so he landed on his own beach surrounded by tens of Indian workers. The VX40 upside down was a big attraction and the sailors received help in salvaging the equipment. Bulldozers, labour and cranes were used. Peter de Ridder after it was all done: “We will definitely do it again. I won’t give up now.”

The World is an archipelago of over 300 islands in the shape of the continents, constructed by Van Oord four km off the coast of Dubai. The configuration measures seven by nine km and features a 25 km breakwater to protect the islands from the Shamal storms. A total of 325 million m3 of sea sand is reclaimed to shape the islands and 32 million tons of rock is placed to construct the breakwater.

Van Oord is a world classdredging and marine contractor, working day to day on dredging and marine projects around the world.