Sail the Atlantic in 3 DAYS !!

That’s the time the giant trimaran Banque Populaire V is hoping to SAIL across the Atlantic in 3 DAYS

Well 3 days and several hours is more accurate, but you get the drift. Can they do it? The trimaran is big enough and fast enough, given the right weather window, but two things are worrying Pasacal Biddégorry – whales and icebergs. In his own words, after the voyage to New York “We saw an incredible number of marine mammals. It’s always astonishing to see them close to, especially the whales …. a bit much for my liking. On the one hand they make for a fascinating spectacle, on the other there is always the fear of collision, which increases the need for vigilance. We also had to take a relatively southern route, because we detected the presence of icebergs at 40°N, in a water temperature of 18°. That didn’t bother us on the delivery voyage, but the return journey could be more complex. I just hope the route north will become clear quickly as the waters warm up.

...courtesy Sailing Anarchy

They're Off

A decade ago, if you said that a sail boat could cross the Atlantic in 3 days and some hours you’d have been laughed at,

....but now two boats could be heading for just that.

The maxi-trimarans Groupama 3 and Banque Populaire V are both chasing the trans-Atlantic record held by G3 with a time of 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes. Both were on track, putting in consistent Franck average speeds of over 32 knots. Both were aiming to ride ahead of a front coming from Canada. Now, Cammas has lost a bit of ground and it remains to be seen whether Pascal Bidégorry, who set out from New York a little over two and a half hours after Groupama 3, made a better call. G3 starting vid and pix here

BYM news

http://www.*******.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=270

BPV starting video here. http://www.*******.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=346

Video here:
http://www.*******.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=346&pid=98096

New Record(s)

Here's one a friend sent me yesterday, but I've been out on business:
http://yachtpals.com/boating/news

Banque Populaire V Sets New Atlantic Sailing Record​

Boating and Sailing News - 02 Aug 2009
France - He wanted it! He got it! The Eastbound North Atlantic sailing record has fallen! Pascal Bidégorry, skipper of the enormous maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire V, is now not only the fastest man under sail over 24 hours, covering an amazing 907.9 miles, he has also become the fastest man across the pond, smashing Groupama 3’s previous sailing record by a whopping 12 hours 32 minutes and 6 seconds.

DENIED a record attempt

The third boat of the 3 that sat waiting for proper conditions in NY, has abandoned the effort for now.

Thomas Coville has abandoned his planned attempt to improve on the solo North Atlantic crossing record that he holds. His 105-foot maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O has been on stand-by in New York for the past two months, but has not encountered the optimal weather conditions needed to improve on his record time of 5 days and 19 hours.

Regarding the weather system in late July that enabled Pascal Bidégorry and his crew aboard the 131-foot maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire V to set a new crewed North Atlantic crossing record, Coville said, "Their conditions were really suited to their big boats in crewed configuration. These conditions could at no time be favorable for single-handed sailing in the sense that the low, which carried them to the other side, was going much too fast for a boat driven by a single man as is the case for Sodeb'O."

Coville will deliver the boat home this week either in single-handed or crewed configuration, from which point he will begin a public relations programmer in La Trinité-sur-Mer followed by some further testing on the race zones of North West France, in order to round off 2009.
http://www.sodebo-voile.com/actu/news-eng.html

Videos

Sailing fast across the Atlantic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBcDXns1W28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehznCPKTSMw&NR=1

http://yachtpals.com/sailing-records-4189