There's currently a 100-ft foiling trimaran in the southern ocean that is racing the clock around the world attempting the around the world record.

They've averaged about 34 mph (30 kn) for 22 days now. Crazy stuff.

https://sodebo-ultim3.sodebo.com/

The red boat on the tracker is the world record track from 2017.

Although interestingly, as that wikipedia article also points out, people did go down into the 40s quite a bit during the Age of Sail (the famous clipper route), because the strong prevailing winds meant it was the fastest way to get around the world. This comes up quite often in the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.

If you're not a sailing ship, you don't benefit from the winds, so those latitudes are pretty empty nowadays.

I hiked Torres del Paine around 51 deg south about 12 years ago and the winds were no joke. On plains or in mountain passes it was absolutely howling. It felt like you could lean into it at a 60 deg angle and not fall over. Sometimes when the trail went close to a steep edge with nothing to break the wind I felt like I needed to crouch, ready to get on the ground, in case a gust caught me.

> Below 40 degrees south, there is no law

Apparently, the current US administration thinks international law does not exist, no matter the latitude/longitude.