World record set parasailing under London bridges

This is certainly one way of getting across London.

In 1986, Roy Castle took on a flight of a different kind, parasailing under 10 of London’s bridges in under 45 minutes.

The challenge was to beat the speed record of parasailing from Lambeth Bridge to Tower Bridge. He took it on as part of BBC Television’s Record Breakers.

The record was held at the time by Brian Tripp of the Parakites Display Team.

After getting out of the water, Castle was told he “slaughtered” the original record at a time of 16 minutes and 57 seconds.

Castle broke a total of nine world records for the Record Breakers series, each of them earning a place in the Guinness World Records. He died in 1994 of lung cancer.

First broadcast - 11 November 1986

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