The fastest female to sail around the world westbound, non-stop, solo and unsupported is Dee Caffari (UK) in Aviva a 22-m (72-ft) monohull, who took 178 days 3 hr 5 min 34 sec to sail back to her start point in Portsmouth, UK, between 20 November 2005 – 18 May 2006.
The fastest circumnavigation of mainland Britain (not including Ireland) took 27 hr 10 min at an average speed of 53.5 knots (99.1 km/h or 61.6 mph) and was accomplished by Neil McGrigor, Tony Jenvey, Jeremy Watts and John Guille (all UK) in Bradstone Challenger a Bladerunner 51 powerboat. The 1,469 nautical mile (2,721 km or 1,691 mile) journey started in Southampton on 11 August 2005 and finished there the following day. Official UIM record (see www.roundbritainrecord.com for more info).
The fastest aerial circumnavigation of the Earth via both the geographical Poles is 54 hr 7 min 12 sec (including refuelling stops) by a Boeing 747 SP piloted by Captain Walter H Mullikin (USA) between 28 and 31 October 1977. The journey started and finished in San Francisco, USA, and stopped in Cape Town, South Africa, and Auckland, New Zealand. The average speed was 784.31 km/h (487.34 mph), and the time airborne was 48 hr 3 min.
Ellen MacArthur (UK) sailed solo and non-stop around the world in 71 days 14 hr 18 min 33 sec from 28 November 2004 to 7 February 2005 in the trimaran B&Q. She started off Ushant, France, rounded the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), sailed south of Australia, and rounded Cape Horn (Argentina) before heading back up the Atlantic to Ushant.
Francis Joyon (France) sailed solo and non-stop around the world in 57 days 13 hr 34 min 06 sec from 23 November 2007 to 20 January 2008, in the 97-ft maxi-trimaran IDEC II. Joyon began and ended his 21,600-nm (38,900-km; 24,170-mile) journey in Brest, France, beating the previous record by Ellen MacArthur (UK) by 14 days.
Viki Gibson (UK) holds the women’s record for the annual Coal Carrying Championship race at Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire, UK, carrying a 20kg (44lb) bag over the 1012.5 m (1107.2 yd) course in 4 mins 48 secs on 28 March 2005.
The fastest three-legged climb up the Canary Wharf tower was 14 min 34.69 sec set by Heather Derbyshire and Karen Fingerhut (both UK) in London, UK, on 6 April 2008. Started at B2 level green stair core and ended at M3 level green stair core. 1,188 steps Staircase leads from sub-basement up to the roof. Official name of building is One Canada Square.
The record for the fastest circumnavigation via both Poles by helicopter is 170 days 22 hr 47 min 17 sec, and was achieved by Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill (both UK), from 5 December 2006 to 23 May 2007, in a Bell 407 helicopter. The journey started and finished in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. It was as well the first time this journey was attempted: The first pilots to fly around the world via the poles with a helicopter.The record has been recognised by the
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The fastest combat jet is the Russian Mikoyan MiG-25 fighter (NATO code name `Foxbat’). The reconnaissance `Foxbat-B’ has been tracked by radar at about Mach 3.2 (3,395 km/h 2,110 mph). The single-seat `Foxbat-A’ has a wing span of 13.95 m 45 ft 9 in, is 23.82 m 78 ft 2 in long and has an estimated maximum take-off weight of 37.4 tonnes 82,500 lb.
Shor’s quantum factoring algorithm is able to find the prime factors of a large number faster than any other method – this task is the key to cracking modern information-based security systems, particularly on the internet. The algorithm, named for MIT maths professor Peter Shor (USA), is so complex that it requires the quantum superposition and entanglement of quantum bits (or qubits) and so requires the use of a quantum computer.