Ford Reiche isn't the sort of man to let little things get in his way.

So when his boat's electronic navigation system failed Monday during an attempt to break a Portland/Nova Scotia speedboat record, he just went to Plan B.

"We did it with dead reckoning," he said, referencing the old compass-and-map system that sailors used for centuries before the likes of satellite positioning systems and depth sounders appeared.

It did the trick.

Reiche, CEO of bulk transportation company Safe Handling in Auburn, and his buddy, Jonathan Knowles, who runs East Coast Yacht Sales in Yarmouth, are the new record holders of the Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, speedboat record.

Their time: 11 hours, 45 minutes, 17 seconds.

The previous record: 12 hours, 20 minutes set in 1986.

"To the extent that it matters, we shattered the old record," said Reiche, with a laugh. "You know, my wife thinks I'm crazy."

Perhaps because the pair set out in a 22-foot inflatable boat with a 250-horsepower engine.

"We pushed the boat to the limit of its abilities, that's for sure, but if we'd gone with a bigger boat, we wouldn't have been able to go as fast," he said.

Not that they were reckless. Reiche and Knowles have been sailing since they were boys, and both have been trained in sea-safety techniques. Reiche said the boat had the full complement of safety gear, including harnesses, flotation vests, automatic satellite emergency alerts to the Coast Guard, and a life raft with 10 days of rations.

"We tried to get freeze-dried cheeseburgers from Roy's for emergencies rations, but they were low on inventory," he quipped.

There was plenty of prep, though. The pair prearranged their paperwork with the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs, to make the red tape go a little faster. They'd been waiting since May 15 for their weather consultant to give them a green light, when the seas would be calm and winds dead.

They got it Monday, when they set off from Portland at 5:38 a.m. About 100 miles out, they lost the electronic navigation system and used the compass, maps and visual cues (the top of Cadillac Mountain, the CAT ferry) to set their course.

About an hour of the trip was taken up hand pumping gas into the boat to refuel. Nova Scotia doesn't allow shorefront pumping, so Reiche had prearranged for someone to deliver two 55-gallon drums of gas to a pier so they could refuel.

"And it was $10 a gallon," he said.

Not that he was complaining, mind you. A staunch environmentalist, Reiche said that to offset the carbon emissions from his little junket, he had purchased credits from Maine Interfaith Power and Light for $80 that would be used to help the Mars Hill Wind Turbine Project.

"We were glad to do it," he said.

And glad that the adventure is now over. Three-foot seas tossed the boat - and them - and they battled the tides in the Bay of Fundy on both legs of the trip.

"The seas were a little choppy," said Reiche. "I feel like a train wreck."

Which, some might say, supports his wife's skepticism.

"I told her it was like Lewis and Clark, a grand adventure, an exploration," said Reiche. "She said it was more like winning a hot-dog eating contest."