Banque Populaire V Departs on Jules Verne Attempt

[PD Staff]

24 hours into the attempt, Loïck Peyron and crew have madetremendous progress and are already 234 nm ahead of the record pace. Gybing down the Portuguese Coastline the big maxi trimaran have enjoy stong winds and great boatspeed, and should be able to continue toward Cap Blanc on the Western edge of Africa with favorable winds. " The night was perfect, with speeds of 34-35 knots" reported Loick .



Their current routing should allow the crew to head straight for the Canaries and maintain their advantage over Franck Cammas's Groupama record. To beat the record, Banque Poulaire must arrive back by Monday January 9th at 17h 15m & 34s!





http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/...2012-5191.html

[PD Staff]

Loïck Peyron and the crew aboard the maxi tri Banque Poulaire V continue their southern slide, enjoying a rare south east breeze from Senegal, actually forcing crew to reduce sail. Realizing more pressure than predicted in the gribs, Loïck expect to cross the equator Saturday night or early Sunday.

The forecast for the south is looking good for Banque Popularie V as well, and Loïck is mindful of the boats potential.

"We are aware the record is earned over time, and can be lost in a 1/4 second or less with a fatal encounter with an object if not paying attention"

The crew expect to reach the open ocean in 5-6 days, and will be catching up on their sleep as much as possible before then. As of this writing they are in advance of Franck Cammas and Groupama's record by 252 nm!




http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/...V/accueil.html

History of Jules Verne under 80 day records:

1993 : Bruno Peyron sur Commodore explorer - Catamaran - 79d 6h 15min 56s
1994 : Peter Blake sur Enza - Catamaran - 74d 22h 17min 22s
1997 : Olivier de Kersauson sur Sport Elec - Trimaran - 71d 14h 22min 8s
2002 : Bruno Peyron sur Orange - Catamaran - 64d 8h 37min 24s
2004 : Olivier de Kersauson sur Geronimo - Trimaran - 63d 14h 59min 46s
2005 : Bruno Peyron sur Orange 2 - Catamaran - 50d 16h 20min 4s
2010 : Franck Cammas sur Groupama 3 - Trimaran - 48d 7h 44min 52s

[PD Staff]

Liking these SE Tradewinds! A steady 22knots of wind, blue skies, beam reaching at close to 30 kn speed. One reef + staysail.

Passing by the easternmost bulge of Brasil now, probably the closest we get to continental land till Cape Horn..

Very hot below, so hard to sleep in the daytime - and the sun is only getting higher in the sky as we move southwards..

Happy Mondays!
Brian

[PD Staff]

FRIDAY, 2 DECEMBER 2011

Day 9
We are really moving fast now, its actually hard to do less than 30 knots of speed.. Wind is 27 kn from 135 TWA.

If all goes well it should be a good mileage for this day. Prob the best of the trip so far, though nothing like the 900 miles this boat has done during its Transatlantic Record, which took a total of 3.5 days. We are in a marathon here, not a sprint, with nearly 40 more days to sail, and besides, the conditions are not as good as they were then..



© B.STICHELBAUT / BPCE



Most of the multihull 24 hour records lately have been made leaving New York going east to Europe in the dead flat seas off the East Coast, but there have been several monohull 24 hour records broken right here, south of the St Helena High, because the seas can be relatively flat and the N wind strong, ahead of a front..

Just this year Loick Peyron broke the double handed IMOCA 60 record here with JP Dick, a record which before was held by Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape, also made in the same area.

In the Volvos several records have been made here too. ABN and then Ericcson 4, II believe, in the last race..

Suffice to say, it's great sailing and we are making the most of it, though being prudent with the boat.

It's colder now, with water temp to 15 C, and it's back to full foul weather gear on deck to protect against the spray too..

Anyway time for a nap now in my off watch..At 1800 pos 40S 27W
Wind 27kn from NNW
Small gennaker, staysail, 2 reefs..





We have just entered the legendary Roaring Forties and are making good miles to longitude of the Cape Of Good Hope..The blue skies are back after disappearing this morning..fantastic fast sailing..

It's Loick's birthday today, and there is a sign in the galley inviting anyone to our Beach Bar Terrace for a little celebration. Am catering for 14, as guests staying outside the resort will find finding the venue somewhat difficult, and parking a real nightmare..

Saw probably the last flying fishes today. Both Pym and I saw different ones, each of them the biggest we had ever seen, and we have seen a few in our time - they were the 'Dreamliners' of flying fish - the size of small salmon! I wonder how old they would have been? water temp was 15.7C, so that matches to the first flying fish seen off Lisbon in the N. Hemisphere in 16C water In our 8 day traverse of the flight path of flying fish from 39n to 39s, I have concluded that they are born in the warm equatorial regions and can move outwards to colder waters as they grow older and bigger. Will have to some reading about them on return, maybe there is a new aerial Moby Dick novel just waiting to be written..though prob not by me..

Bye for now


Brian



Banque Populaire Website