It was the busiest year the Great Loop speed record has ever had. Seven crews set out between July and September — a jon boat, a 23-foot welded aluminum boat, an ex-Coast Guard rescue boat, a War Eagle, a sponsored charity boat, a pair of supercharged jet skis and a 26-foot RIB. Five of them crossed their wake. Two of them rewrote the record book: Fast Marine's Martin Bysiewicz took the solo, single-engine and PWC marks on September 4, and two weeks later White Lightning ran the fastest Great Loop ever — 11 days, 21 hours, 51 minutes. No more attempts are planned this year; the next ones will be in 2027.
| Run | Boat | Chasing | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Lightning Dustin Kidd & Marc Crutcher · two aboard | 2027 Highfield Sport 800 RIB (26′ 8″), twin Yamaha 200s | Outright · 12d 18h 10m | 🏆 New outright record 11d 21h 51m · Kentucky Dam, Sep 6–18 · ~4,280 tracker mi · 20h 19m under Lady Lor |
| Fast Marine Martin Bysiewicz, with Steven Fulladosa alongside for most of it | Sea-Doo RXT-X 325 jet ski (one engine) | PWC · 22d 5h 40m Solo / single-engine · 19d 13h 1m | 🏆 New solo, single-engine & PWC records 18d 5h 23m · Sunshine Skyway, Aug 17 – Sep 4 · 5,255 mi · crossed the line alone · Guinness ratification pending |
| Red Flowers Capt. Scott "Red" Flowers · Great Loop Challenge 2.0 | Portā DARK:30 Velocity, twin Honda BF350s | Charity endurance loop — not a record attempt | 🏁 Finished Crossed his wake at the Jacksonville inlet Aug 29 · 7,162 mi in ~21 days on a custom route |
| Freedom Fighter David Skrzecz & Michael Bucher · Veterans Against Suicide | 25′ ex-USCG SAFE Boat Defender, stock | Outright · 12d 18h 10m | 🏁 Finished A back injury ended the record bid; they finished the Loop anyway — Counce, TN, Jul 25 – Aug 22 · ~4,880 mi in ~28 days |
| Bandit David Barber · solo | SeaArk jon boat, Yamaha 150 | Solo · 19d 13h 1m | 🏁 Finished 25d 8h 39m · St. Marks, FL, Aug 4 · 4,884 mi · second-fastest jon boat Loop on record |
| Liberty Looper Capt. Jason Decker · solo | War Eagle 2170 Blackhawk, 150 hp Mercury | Solo · 19d 13h 1m | Ended Underway Aug 4 from Destin, restarted Aug 11, ended Aug 12 after he was struck by a jumping fish |
| Youens & Hernden Robert Youens & Steve Hernden | 23′ Weldbilt 2370MV, 140 hp Tohatsu | Outright · 12d 18h 10m | Ended Dead even with the record after 2,417 mi in 6d 22h — hull damage on Lake Erie ended it at Erie, PA, Jul 20 |
| Outright any vessel, any crew | 11d 21h 51m — White Lightning, Sep 18, 2026. Previous: 12d 18h 10m, Lady Lor (Peter Hajas & crew, July 2025), which stood 14 months. Margin: 20h 19m. |
| Solo & single-engine one rider, one motor | 18d 5h 23m — Martin Bysiewicz, Sep 4, 2026. Previous: 19d 13h 1m, Robert Youens (July 2025), which stood 13 months. Margin: 1d 7h 38m. A teammate rode alongside for most of the Loop, so whether it is a solo record is debated — see the poll. |
| Personal watercraft the Guinness category | 18d 5h 23m — Martin Bysiewicz, Sep 4, 2026. Previous (Guinness-ratified): 22d 5h 40m, David Fries (2024). Margin: 4d 0h 17m. Guinness ratification pending. |
| Jon boat unchanged | 19d 13h 1m — Robert Youens, 2025, still stands. Bandit's 25d 8h 39m is now the second-fastest jon-boat Loop. |
Everything, with the full lineage and sources, is in the record book.
| ~Jul 10 | Bandit — David Barber sets off solo from the Florida panhandle in a SeaArk jon boat, chasing Youens' solo mark. |
| Jul 13 | Robert Youens & Steve Hernden launch from Chickasaw, Alabama at 10 a.m., running 24/7 at the outright record — the holder of the solo mark teamed with the 2022 record-setter. |
| Jul 20 | Seven days in and dead even with the record, Youens & Hernden's hull fails on Lake Erie. They end the run at Erie, PA after 2,417 miles. |
| Jul 25 | Freedom Fighter leaves Grand Harbor Marina, Counce, Tennessee at 1:45 p.m. CDT — two Special Operations veterans in a stock ex-Coast Guard boat. |
| Aug 4 | Bandit crosses his wake at St. Marks, FL — 4,884 miles solo in 25d 8h 39m. The same day, Liberty Looper gets underway from Destin after a weather delay. |
| Aug 8 | Red Flowers, the 2024 record-setter, launches Great Loop Challenge 2.0 from DeLand, FL — a 7,162-mile charity loop. |
| Aug 11–12 | Liberty Looper restarts its clock, then ends the next day when Capt. Decker is struck by a jumping fish. |
| Aug 14–17 | Fast Marine sets off from the Sunshine Skyway, scraps the first start after an engine failure and restarts clean at 7:14 a.m. Aug 17. |
| Aug 22 | Freedom Fighter crosses their wake — the whole ~4,880-mile Loop completed despite the back injury that ended their record bid. |
| Aug 29 | Red Flowers crosses his wake at the Jacksonville (St. Johns) inlet, 4:38 p.m. |
| Sep 4 | 🏆 Martin Bysiewicz crosses his wake alone under the Skyway at 12:37 p.m. EDT — 18d 5h 23m, new solo, single-engine and PWC records. |
| Sep 6 | White Lightning leaves the Kentucky Dam tailwater at 1:14 p.m. CDT, rivers first. |
| Sep 9 | White Lightning cuts across Florida on the Okeechobee Waterway and moves roughly 31 hours ahead of Lady Lor's pace (why the lead jumped). |
| Sep 18 | 🏆 White Lightning crosses their wake at Kentucky Dam, 11:05 a.m. CDT — 11d 21h 51m, the fastest Great Loop ever run. |
This site is the permanent home for these attempts, and it will track the next ones the same way — a live map, a card for each crew, and a dial that races them against the real pace of the record they're chasing. If you're planning a run, start with how the records work and then tell us about it. If you just want to know when the next boat leaves the dock, sign up for one message.