August 2017
World Speed Record Challenge
by 77 Lucas Oil SilverHook
LUCAS OIL OCEAN CUP
Key West ••• to ••• Cuba
LUCAS OIL OCEAN CUP
••• Key West to Cuba round-trip •••
New Guinness World Record Approved!
A new GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the fastest journey from Key West to Cuba by powered
boat has been approved at 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 3 seconds set on August 17, 2017, officially
naming Nigel Hook and Jay Johnson “Guinness World Records®” record holders.
See PRESS RELEASE (dated Feb 8, 2018).
Nigel Hook and the SilverHook Powerboats team are having a two-for-one world speed record attempt on
August 17, 2017.
>> Hear Nigel Hook’s August 11 interview on US1 Radio - 12 minutes <<
That's the day that Captain Hook has chosen to
try to set two speed records in what is
considered the most technically-advanced
offshore monohull race boat in the world. The
first objective is a one-way speed record from a
point just off the Florida Keys in the southern
United States to Havana, Cuba.
If that record is established, then part two will
be an equally-fast or faster return trip and a
two-way record. Should SilverHook fail to break
the one-way record and any mechanical or
technical problems are fixable in the water,
then the return trip record attempt will still be
mounted.
On the morning of August 17, the Lucas Oil
Speed Record attempt will begin at 6:30 a.m.
EDT in Mallory Square (Key West). The timer
starting the record attempt will be triggered just south of Sunset Key and will stop when SilverHook
reaches the channel marker in front of El Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba (Castillo de los Tres Reyes
Magos del Morro).
Following a brief celebration hosted by the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba, the return leg
will start with a quick fly by the US Embassy along the Malecón coast before crossing the starting line,
then straight back to Key West, hopefully producing the reverse, round-trip world record.
The sanctioned record of 6 hours was set in 1922 by a boat piloted by motor racing Hall of Fame member
Gar Wood. Wood was an American inventor, entrepreneur, motor boat builder and racer who held the
world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to travel over 100 miles per hour on
water. In 2015 the ocean racer Apache set an unsanctioned time of 1 hour and 51 minutes.
This USA-Cuba record attempt is a tremendous challenge for the SilverHook, which given the expected
wave conditions should exceed 125mph. The boat is 48 feet long, weighs over 13,000 pounds, and is
powered by two Mercury Racing engines producing a combined 3,100 horsepower with a top speed of
nearly 168 miles per hour in calm conditions. The powerboat telemetry has been radically updated from
its normal Superboat unlimited configuration.
SilverHook's course will take it 102 miles across the Florida current that flows between the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean Sea. Since the current is at its strongest in July and August, that resistance will force
SilverHook to travel about 110 miles on its record attempt.
The Florida current also is a treacherous body of water that has been the graveyard of many ships
through the ages. Depending on wave height, visibility can be poor at high speeds, with the monohull
diving down and through waves rather than skipping over the surface. Waves can run from 3 to 30 feet
high, requiring constant vigilance by the helicopter spotters to avoid other ships or floating debris such as
tree trunks and oil barrels.
For this record attempt, some of SilverHook's main sponsors are Lucas Oil, IBM Watson IoT,
Globecomm, Ingram Micro, and Inmarsat. This attempt will be conducted under the sanction of the UIM
(Union International Motonautique), the APBA (American Power Boat Association), Powerboat P1-USA,
and the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba.
SilverHook is owned and captained by transplanted Englishman Nigel Hook, who will be controlling the
throttles and telemetry on the record attempt. Hook is a 30-year veteran of international powerboat racing
who has won three World Championships, set three World Speed Records (including the 500-mile 2013
record “Golden Gate to Queen Mary”), and earned membership in the APBA Hall of Champions. He
currently races the 77 Lucas Oil SilverHook 48GP in the Superboat International unlimited class. His co-
pilot and driver is fellow APBA inductee and powerboat veteran Jay Johnson.
© Lucas Oil Ocean Cup 2018 All Rights Reserved
Castillo del Morro