Photo of Banque Populaire V from the Banque Populaire V press site.

I have been watching the latest attempt at the Jules Vern Trophy by the Banque Populaire V a  Maxi trimaran 131 feet in length  for the last few days and it is beyond comprehension.  Banque Populaire V is running ahead of the current record holder Groupama 3 by over 1,500 miles with a few days left if they hold this pace to the finish line.

The rules are simple sail from France and leave the three major Capes to Port (Good Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn) and if you hit an iceberg or whale it sure would be bad for your time.   In one of the first notes I read from the boat they were lamenting that they had “slowed down to only 20 knots.”  The boat had some speeds in the mid 40 knot range, beyond my imagination.

Here are a couple of links to the boat’s web site showing the progress of the attempt with the current record holder also shown so you can compare the progress.  They also have a nice set of wind arrows showing the speed and direction of the wind.

Graphic map of where the boat is: Don’t forget to click on the Wind arrows thing to see what the wind is doing (right button at the top of the map with the triangles on it.  The map is interactive.

The latest Report: In English, once a day from the boat.

The history of the Jules Vern Trophy from Wikipedia.

The features of the Maxi Banque Populaire V from their web site.

Designed by Pascal Bidégorry, designed by the architectural firm VPLP built
by CDK Technologies and its suppliers, approved by the authorities of the
People's Bank, the Maxi Banque Populaire V is intended as a beast of
records. "We could draw a trimaran of 45 or 50 meters, recognizes Vincent
Lauriot-Prevost, but we wanted to stay within that we control." The
project objective was to design a very fast trimaran under conditions of
low to medium wind at all speeds, while supporting its ability to lengthen
the average speeds supported in the seas.

Name: Maxi Banque Populaire V
Type: Maxi trimaran Ocean
Length of the central hull: 40 meters     (131 Feet)
Length of float: 37 meters                (121 Feet)
Width: 23 feet
Displacement: 23 tons
Draft: 5.80 meters                        (19 Feet)
Air draft: 47 feet
80 tons of pressure at the foot of the mast
Winches able to cash voltages of more than 14 tonnes
Curved foils: 300 pounds
Mainsail: 450 m2      (4844 ft 2)
Gennaker: 610 m2      (6566 ft 2)
Solent: 270 m2        (2906 ft 2)

Sponsor: Jacques Perrin - Actor, producer, director.

On-board in the Atlantic jetting to the finish

45 days of the fastest sailing in the world. Around the planet on Banque Populaire V in 45 days, distilled into just 3 minutes! (added March 01, 2012)

c/m