Skipper wants to 'fly' boat around the world in 40 days

Washington, March 29 (ANI): Reports indicate that Alain Thebault, the captain of the world's fastest sailboat, the Hydroptere, has announced that he wants to sail his boat around the world in 40 days.

According to a report in Discovery News, Thebault has said that his next project is to circumnavigate the globe in half the time of the Jules Verne novel "Around the World in 80 Days."

"My dream is to cross the world in 40 days," Thebault told CNN. "It is a project that is very close to my heart and that I believe in," he said.

"Hydroptere," currently the world's fastest sailing boat, gets its speed from foils, or underwater "wings" that lift the boat and enable it to "fly" several meters above the water.

This innovation, which uses principles similar to those of airplanes, avoids drag and allows the 18- by 24-meter boat to achieve previously unimaginable speeds.

But, he isn't using Hydroptere to sail around the world, but is currently building a larger version of the sailboat, the Hydroptere Maxi, which will be sea-ready in 2013.

At 30 by 30 meters, Thebault hopes that "Maxi" will react better in heavy seas and be able to accommodate a group of 10 sailors.

He expects "Maxi" to be sea-ready in 2013. (ANI)