Kleinjans to attempt round Ireland record

Hot on the heels of Michael Liddy's new time, Belgium Open 40 sailor to set sail on singlehanded attempt

Tomorrow Friday the Belgian Open 40 Roaring Forty and her skipper Michel Kleinjans will set off in an attempt to break the singlehanded Round Ireland which has only recently been taken by Irishman Michael Liddy and his Beneteau 40.7 Afaom.com in 5 days and 12 hours.

The Open 40 Roaring Forty is a very different type of boat, specially conceived for singlehanded sailing. She belongs to the first generation Open 40s and was built in 1997 to a design of Ad Konijnendijk and the Lutra Group, who were also responsible for the design of the Dutch Fastnet winner Piet Vroon's Tonnerre de Breskens. With all the many miles spend on board of his yacht, Michel Kleinjans surely knows his boat very well and is a serious contender to break this record.

In June Michel Kleinjans entered his Roaring Forty in the single handed Faraday Mill OSTAR, which had to become one of the highlights of his career. Unfortunately after a few days into the race he had to retire while leading the fleet, due to rig failure. In the meantime Michel Kleinjans won the Cowes to Dinard race in the doublehanded class.

Since then the boat has been delivered to Dun Loaghaire, the official starting place for every Round Ireland record attempt.

The Belgian skipper plans to set off on Friday at 11.00, when a strong southeasterly should take him all the way over the northern tip of Ireland, and hopefully a bit further. Once on the Atlantic side, he hopes to benefit from a big shift and use the predicted westerly to take his boat back to Dublin. “I think I can do it in three days and a half, but if I can do it in less than that, I won’t fail to do so”, said the very confident skipper.

The total distance of the planned circumnavigation is about 708 miles. The record for crewed yachts is held by the French 60ft City Jet/Solune, in a time of 57 hours and 41 minutes.