Banque Populaire Smashing Record Pace

Seventeen days into their attempt at the Julles Verne Trophy, the crew of the 131-ft trimaran Banque Populaire V are putting a beat down on the reference time of the current record. Skipper Loïck Peyron and his 13-man crew have already passed the Kerguelen islands while putting up a 2,230-mile cushion over the time set by Franck Cammas’ 105-ft trimaran Groupama 3 in 2010.

"We have between 25 and 27 knots of wind and we’re always downwind, under gennaker with two reefs," said crewman Xavier Revil. "We are moving at 35 knots, with a good swell coming from behind which makes for beautiful surfs, being well placed for the drop-in, just as is done with a small boat. For 12 hours, we’ve been surfing from wave to wave. If you let yourself go, you can easily reach 40 knots. But it is limited to 35 nodes to stay within reasonable speeds and so the boat does not suffer. We are not even through half of the course."

Sounds like fun work if you can get it! On the monohull front, the Volvo Ocean Race‘s Cape Town in-port race goes off tomorrow, and all three boats that were knocked out of Leg One will be back out there, and hopefully, also for the start of Leg Two to Abu Dhabi on Sunday.