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Over 800 Nautical Miles With No Engine

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21.12.2011

Over 800 Nautical Miles With No Engine

The Bangue Populaire V Covered 811 Nautical Miles Over 24 Hours With No Engine

On 1st December the trimaran Banque Populaire V covered 811 nautical miles over a 24 hour period, at an average speed of 33.8 knots, under sail. The crew are attempting to break the fully crewed non-stop around the world record - the Jules Verne Trophy.

At this level extreme sailing craft designers can exchange knowledge with high speed powerboat designers. The bow section of each hull of the trimaran is similar to a wave piercing high speed craft. Composite boat building techniques have been pioneered by round the world sailing craft and utilised by powerboat builders to increase strength and reduce weight. The Southern Ocean is the ultimate 24/7 testing ground for any fast craft with extreme slamming and high stress on materials and components.

With her 40 metre (130 ft) length, beam width of 23 metre (75 ft) and mast height of 47 metre (154 ft) Banque Populaire V is currently the largest racing trimaran in the world. She was launched on October 4, 2008 in Nantes France and was designed to set oceanic records.

Brian Thompson, the sole British crew member onboard, said on December 1st as the boat covered 811.4 nautical miles, ‘We are really moving fast now, it’s actually hard to do less than 30 knots of speed. Wind is 27 knots from 135 TWA (True Wind Angle). If all goes well it should be a good mileage for this day. Probably 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.’

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 south of the St Helena High, because the seas can be relatively flat and the North wind strong, ahead of a front.

Good luck in the challenge to all at Voile du Groupe Banque Populaire.

See Video of trimaran Banque Populaire V here

Photo copyright B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE

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