Sailing Round Ireland record attemptDaybreak this morning may see a new era in Round Ireland records with Cityjet/Irish Times on course to knock as much as 14 hours off the 72-hour speed record as she made her way past Mew Island off the coast of Co Down at 9pm last night with only 120 miles to the finish line.

Taking every advantage offered by strong northwesterly winds, the French yacht hit top speeds of up to 24 knots as she made her way down the east coast last night.

Skipper Jean-Philippe Chomette predicted that the forecast winds could have him back in Dún Laoghaire for petit-déjeuner celebrations to lift the Cork Dry Gin perpetual trophy at the National Yacht Club.

If this happens, Chomette and the seven-man crew of Cityjet will become the first to break the three-day barrier and put the biggest dent in the Round Ireland record since the late Denis Doyle's legendary run of 1984 when the Cork yachtsman, the doyen of Round Ireland racing, broke his own record to be the first to round Ireland in a sub-four-day time.

Barring serious gear failure a record now looks inevitable, and at best they could even be looking at a time of less than two-and-a-half days for the 704-mile circumnavigation.

At 5pm yesterday they were north of Coleraine and were reaching the fastest speeds of the trip. As the breeze built so did their speed and for a time their average speed increased to 13 knots.

As a further bonus, the crew made the tidal gate at Rathlin Island, increasing their average speed with flatter seas and the tide underneath the 60-footer for the final leg south to the Kish.

Last night at 8pm Chomette reported Cityjet was doing 17 knots. The boat had been under spinnaker for 15 hours and making good progress in flat seas.

Obviously cautious, given the Irish Sea's reputation for surprises, the Frenchman was confident enough to say he would be off the Kish finishing line by daybreak even if it meant a beat from Belfast Lough.

An ideal combination of gale-force winds and flat seas made for a very fast run across the north coast earlier yesterday afternoon allowing then to claw back valuable time lost off Tralee bay on Wednesday.

Apart from some tricky tactics in light headwinds off the Kerry coast and hitting a fishing net on the south coast, Chomette was happy to report the trip thus far had been uneventful and they had even been able to have a hot meal in spite of losing their matches.