Cheyenne (catamaran)

Cheyenne is the name of a catamaran owned by Virgin Oceanic and operated by Virgin Oceanic's co-found Chris Welsh. Cheyenne was formerly owned and operated by the late Steve Fosset. In 2001 Fosset and his crew crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 4 days and 17 hours establishing a new world record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a sail vessel.^[1]

in 2006 Cheyenne's mast broke due to severe weather off the coast of Argentina. Cheyenne was converted to a power catamaran and underwent significant changes and became the mothership for Virgin Oceanic's deep sea exploration mission called 5 Dives.

Achievements

• Transatlantic record of in a time of 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes, and 6 seconds in October 2001, with a total distance of 2,925 nautical miles (5,417 km) at an average speed of 25.78 knots.^[2]
• The 24 hour distance run of 687.17 nautical miles (1,272.64 km) at an average speed of 28.63 knots in 2001.^[3]
• The round the world sailing record of 58 days 9 hours 32 minutes and 45 seconds in 2004. PlayStation was renamed Cheyenne in 2003, prior to setting this record.^[4]

The former records have all been broken.

Virgin Oceanic

In 2009 Cheyenne was purchased by Chris Welsh from the estate of Steve Fosset. Plans are to launch a deep sea submarine to carry passengers to extreme ocean depths. The deep sea adventure will be supported by Cheyenne, and will use the HOT DeepFlight Challenger sub^[5] to plumb the depths of the worlds oceans to full depth.^[6][7] Both of these were owned by Steve Fossett, who had modified the racing catamaran to become the mothership to his oceanic dive record attempt.^[6] The submarine seats one person, and is currently the only manned submersible capable of reaching the deepest part of the oceans.^[7]

See also

• Playstation (yacht)
• Virgin Oceanic
• Chris Welsh
• Sir Richard Branson

References

1. ^ http://www.solarnavigator.net/steve_fossett.htm
2. ^ WSSRC transatlantic record
3. ^ WSSRC 24 hour record
4. ^ WSSRC around the world record
5. ^ Virgin Oceanic, Operations Team (accessed 25 May 2011)
6. ^ ^{a b} Virgin Oceanic, Catamaran (accessed 25 May 2011)
7. ^ ^{a b} Virgin Oceanic, Sub (accessed 25 May 2011)