Dan Lenard to make second attempt to break a Guiness World Record
by Eugenio 8 Apr 00:41 NZST
29 May to 2 June 2025
Dan Lenard second attemp to break a Guiness World Record © South America Yachting News
Dan Lenard, the renowned superyacht designer, co-founder, and chief of design at Studio Nuvolari Lenard, as well as the founder of the Vela Code Foundation and Vela Code Movement, is preparing for his second attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest unassisted solo non-stop sailing in a dinghy.
He will undertake this challenge in a PSA-built Olympic-class ILCA 7 (formerly known as the Laser Standard), a 4.21-meter (13-foot-9-inch) dinghy with a 1.37-meter (4-foot-7-inch) beam. The boat is prepared under the supervision of Olympian Vasilij Zbogar.
What makes this attempt especially challenging is the ILCA 7's unique design — once the sail is hoisted on land at departure, it cannot be reset until the journey ends. This means Lenard must sail continuously, without adjusting the sail, until he reaches land again - a factor that significantly increases the difficulty of his record-breaking effort.
This extraordinary feat - often compared to extreme solo mountain climbing - will see Lenard navigating without assistance, without mooring, and without anchoring for days on end. He will sleep onboard his tiny boat while under way, carrying all necessary supplies packed and secured in advance. His goal is to nearly double the current record, aiming for an astonishing 500 nautical miles, a journey expected to take approximately seven days.
In alignment with Vela Code principles, Lenard's voyage will be entirely emission-free and free from single-use plastic packaging. No plastic-bottled water will be carried, ensuring zero plastic waste throughout the trip.
The challenge, titled VELA 500 MILES, is scheduled for the second half of June 2025, depending on favorable weather conditions. The journey will be trackable online in real time via an onboard beacon, with live updates, direct media posts from Lenard, and live interviews while he sails. Boats in the central Adriatic region will be encouraged to meet and follow him along the Dalmatian coast during his week-long journey.
The official announcement of the attempt will take place at the 2025 Venice Boat Show, where Lenard will also present his book about his Vela Code solo transatlantic crossing six years ago. Both events are part of a broader initiative to promote the Vela Code Foundation and Movement, which seeks to educate and engage the nautical community as firsthand witnesses to the state of our seas, ultimately advocating for ocean preservation on a global scale.
The Vela Code initiative underscores the urgent need to restore the planet's drastically reduced CO2 absorption capacity. According to Lenard, reducing carbon emissions is only part of the solution—plastic pollution, which weakens the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 and disrupts the planet's primary oxygen production, must be addressed immediately. Without urgent action to curb plastic pollution, current efforts to reduce emissions may ultimately be in vain.