There aren’t many people who can say they have painted the fastest sailboat in the world and Mr Taylor and his experienced Superyacht Painters are very proud of this achievement. The fairing and painting work for Vestas Sailrocket 2 had to be of the highest racing yacht standard and drawing dimensions had to be adhered to in order to minimise weight and to maximise achievable speed.

Vestas Sailrocket 2 broke two world average speed records in 2012 which were recorded and confirmed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) for the 500m and the nautical mile.

The average speed recorded on 18th November 2012 for the nautical mile run was 55.32 knots and a new record was set also for the 500 m run with an average speed of 59.23 knots.

Six days later on 24th November 2012, the fearless Paul Larsen together with Vestas Sailrocket 2 smashed their own new record for the 500 m run with an average speed of 65.45 knots. The top speed reached over this record run was 68.01 knots, which is also the fastest ever recorded speed for a sailboat.

Vestas Sailrocket 2 was piloted by project leader Paul Larsen off Walvis Bay, Namibia and was sponsored by Danish wind turbines manufacturer Vestas.

Prior to these achievements in 2008 the first version of Sailrocket reached a reported unofficial speed of 52.22 knots (96.71 km/h), before crashing.

These world sailing distance average speed records are still held by Vestas Sail Rocket 2 in November 2021. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is planning to break these records in 2022 with their SP80 futuristic kite driven design. Their aim is to achieve a wind-powered speed of 80 knots.