Fastest west-to-east atlantic crossing in a Mini-class sailboat

The fastest west-to-east Atlantic crossing in a Mini-class racing yacht was achieved by Jay Thompson (USA) in Speedy Gonzales in 17 days 9 hours 51 minutes 9 seconds. He set off from New York City at 6.35 p.m. on 3 August and passed Lizard Point in Cornwall, UK, at 4.26 a.m. on 21 August 2023 (times UTC) before ending the journey at Port du Château in Brest, France.

This was Thompson's second attempt at this record, having been forced to abandon an attempt in 2022. On the way he had to contend with bad weather and equipment failures. The rudder of Speedy Gonzales was a particular worry, as it was badly battered by the effects of high winds and more than once required maintenance while underway.

A Mini-class (also called Mini 650, Mini 6.50 or Classe Mini) sailboat is a standardized design developed for the Mini Transat race. Mini-class vessels are 6.5 m long, 3 m wide and designed to be operated single-handed. The Mini Transat is an annual Atlantic Crossing race that runs from France to the Caribbean. The fastest recorded crossing in that race is just 18 days.