Land Rover ambassador, Hannah White will attempt to break the women’s World Speed Sailing Record over one nautical mile, with support from Land Rover.

Hannah’s record attempt will take place in early 2016 in a purpose-built, state-of-the-art hydrofoiling monohull sail boat, which has been designed and built using Land Rover’s expertise in aerodynamics.

Collaborating in both the design and development of Hannah’s sailboat, Speedbird, Land Rover engineers have been drawing on unparalleled innovation and engineering expertise along with the use of advanced facilities. This input will help maximise the performance of the six-metre vessel, which has a carbon fibre hull weighing just 14kg.

Land Rover have been working closely with Hannah and her team since January 2015 making use of world class engineering facilities and state of the art computer systems to optimize the fluid dynamics of the hydrofoil stub sail. The result of this work is ensuring a minimum drag while maintaining stability of the sailboat.

Dr Daniel Wood (PhD), Land Rover Aerodynamics Engineer at Land Rover, said “This is a really exciting project for us at Land Rover. When it comes to our vehicles, we are always looking at how we can use our expertise in engineering to ensure every design is the best and most efficient it can be. Applying this knowledge and technology to other models, such as sailboats can be very effective in increasing speed and power. Using my experience with Formula 1 as an aerodynamicist, we will ensure the pinnacle of performance for Speedbird is achieved to ensure Hannah has the best chance possible of smashing the world record.”

For the remainder of the year and up until the record attempt, Hannah will undertake a gruelling training programme and practice schedule to acquire the skills needed to break the record. The record is currently held by British windsurfer Zara Davis who set the record at 34.7 knots in 2006.