MainSail

SHOW #70

Speed

In few other arenas is man's never ending quest for the next frontier more evident than in sailing. The pioneering spirit, which first sent the human race out to sea to explore what lay beyond the horizon, still exists today as man strives to go faster, further, and in constant pursuit of the next extreme. Forever changing, constantly progressing, sailing is a sport driven by many factors. In today's modern world, developments in technology and yacht design give sailors an ever changing arsenal of tools, as competitors drive each other to new heights of innovation. For the ground breaking sailor, the next frontier is always just out of reach.

This month on CNN MainSail, Shirley Robertson takes a look at speed – what drives one particular breed of sailor to be the fastest on the planet? At the America’s Cup in Valencia, winners BMW Oracle Racing's Head of Design explains how the Americans' revolutionary wing sail gave them the edge, and Shirley takes to the skies in a glider to see the roots of this new innovation in action. In Cowes, UK, Paul Larsen and his team of engineers skulk in the shadows of the boat building shed, as the speed record enthusiast turns his latest wild idea into reality, and in Dubai at the Moth World Sailing Championships, Shirley takes to the water to experience hydrofoil sailing – this is the innovation to which the French Hydroptere team attribute their world speed record which Larsen so badly wants to take from them. And Shirley meets Cameron Lewis, crew member on the first boat to sail round the world in less than 80 days – the current Jules Verne record stands at much less than that, a target which Franck Cammas and his Groupama team are currently trying to better; Shirley talks to them via satellite phone to find out what drives them on their quest.

Will this incessant pursuit of the next frontier ever fade, and what will be the next innovation to come over the horizon? This month on CNN MainSail we try to find out.