Banque Populaire V (Photo courtesy of Team Banque Populaire V)

With a lead of 324 miles over the reference time, the Maxi Banque Populaire V was handicapped for more than 48 hours by a damaged daggerboard due to a collision with a UFO*.  The crew have tried everything to repair the broken piece and resume their round the world tour. However, after 24 hours of intensive care, Pascal Bidegorry and his men must face the facts: it is not possible for them to continue this journey with a daggerboard that does not fulfil its potential when one looks closely at the long upwind voyage ahead to the Kerguelen Islands. After fourteen days of sailing that has seen an impressive performance from the boat, the fourteen men on board are therefore forced to quit in their first record attempt of the Jules Verne Trophy.
Reached by telephone late this morning, Pascal Bidegorry talked through this difficult but reasoned decision:

“Yesterday, we spent the day sawing the end of the damaged daggerboard. We managed to clear a good part of it and scraped inside it to make it fair.  Right now, the guys are trying to fill it in with whatever they find. Then we will have to fair the outside. The boat is a true composite workshop at the moment, which is not ideal at 46 ° south, in the cold and permanent fog. We are left with two meters of daggerboard instead of the usual 5.80 meters. At the scale of a boat like ours, it does not help performance and we have a lot of upwind conditions ahead to get up to the Kerguelen Islands, conditions under which the total length of the daggerboard is essential. We have been working on it for two and a half days and despite all our determination, we fully realize that we cannot put it back before noon tomorrow at the earliest. We need to be objective, we are racing a record and need to be competitive. Not carrying on is more than obvious today, especially since we know that there are a lot of upwind conditions awaiting us. We cannot sail as fast as we wanted in the south. We have left the boundaries of what is the essence of our mission.

We have thus decided to leave some time for the team in charge of the “yard-work” to finish repairing the damage properly. Then slowly but surely we will return to Lorient. We are big boys, we came here alone and we will come back under sail. For now, we are still heading east. We should have a wind shift within a couple of hours to make a northern route. We should get very soft conditions within 24 hours, which will allow us to finish the repair. Then we will start again in the trade winds, downwind to the Doldrums. ”

The disappointment and frustration of the Maxi Banque Populaire V’s crew and of Banque Populaire itself are inevitably strong today, but everyone knows that this decision is right, as there is still two thirds of the world left to sail around in this attempt.

After leaving Brest on Saturday, January 22, the Maxi Banque Populaire had performed well, confirming its potential as a hunter of records. Nevertheless, on the night of February 2nd to 3rd, what is suspected to be a whale destroyed Pascal Bidegorry and his men’s hopes in the South Atlantic, a few hundred miles away from the Cape of Good Hope. Forced to retire after two and a half days spent trying to find a way out, they do not intend to stop and will therefore head north to their Lorient base Lorient, a trip that will take 18 to 20 days.

Without doubt, these fourteen great sailors and the Maxi now have a mission to take on this world tour. This is how Pascal Bidegorry concluded the today’s vacation:
“I am determined to do this round the world and to beat that record. We have both a reliable boat on which we worked really well and a sporty degree of quality that makes me think that the Maxi Banque Populaire V deserves so much better than what we are offering it today. We must continue to work for the future. ”

If this Jules Verne Trophy attempt ends this Saturday 5th February, we must recall that this was the first attempt of the giant trimaran bearing the image of the Sailing Bank, tenaciously committed forover 20 years in offshore racing and its mechanical hazards.

* UFO: unknown floating object
Maxi Banque Populaire V’s crew list
Off Watch :
Pascal Bidégorry : skipper
Juan Vila : navigator

Watch n°1
Yvan Ravussin : Watch leader, in charge of video and composite
Brian Thompson : Helmsman / Trimmer
Thierry Chabagny : Helmsman / Trimmer
Pierre-Yves Moreau : Bowman, in charge of fittings and composite

Watch n°2
Fred Le Peutrec : Watch leader
Emmanuel Le Borgne : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of medics
Erwan Tabarly : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of electonics
Ronan Lucas : Bowman, in charge of security

Watch n°3
Jérémie Beyou  : Watch leader
Kevin Escoffier: Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of video
Xavier Revil  : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of food
Florent Chastel : Bowman, in charge of medics and rigging

Marcel van Triest : Shore weather routeur

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Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire V Daggerboard Repair (Photo courtesy Banque Populaire)

After running into an ‘unidentified floating object’ overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Pascal Bidegorry and his men had to head North for a while, in order to reach better sea and wind conditions to lift the daggerboard out of its case and evaluate the extent of the damage. The operation, which took about three hours, showed that the impact tore 2m20 of the submerged part and confirmed the disappearance of the crashbox. Brought back on deck, the daggerboard currently takes full attention from the Maxi Banque Populaire V crew, which is doing everything possible with the means available on board to get back to normal racing on this Jules Verne Trophy.
Pascal Bidegorry came back on the operation on the phone this morning: “At night, we arrived in an area allowing us to lift the daggerboard without too much difficulty. The handling took us nearly three hours during which we lied off. Emmanuel Le Borgne took the “benefit” of it to dive under the Maxi Banque Populaire V to assess possible damage onto the rudder blades and hull bottoms. There is nothing serious on those matters. Once the dagg on the deck, we found out that there is a missing piece of roughly 2m20. The shock was so intense that it broke the structural bar of the dagg. We are currently trying to cut out the end of it, which is reduced to shreds. However the mission is not that simple at all with the few tools we have. We are using a hacksaw and a drill. Once cut, we will study the possibility to stratify it.  Our objective is to shut the lower part of it to make it waterproof. Otherwise, it would continue to delaminate with speed.”

A lot of work is expected for the next 24 hours, during which the Maxi Banque Populaire V will have to sail at a reduced pace.

“We are sailing under Solent with 6 knots of wind, and what is sure is that all this does not help us gaining time! We hope we will able to lift the gennaker fast enough but for now we need it to steady the dagg. We will do everything to succeed in this approach. We will move forward, hour by hour, trying to relaunch this Maxi Banque Populaire V history in this Jules Verne Trophy. We will make the appropriate decision once we have tried everything to resume on our progress around the world with normal navigation and safety conditions. But for now, we carry on and facing the events, I tell myself that I am very fortunate to sail with a highly united crew who do not hesitate to roll up its sleeves in adversity! “.

So these are difficult times that lie ahead for Pascal Bidégorry and his men who nevertheless keep their full determination to continue this wonderful story. Activity looks intense at sea, but in this thirteenth day of racing, the Maxi Banque Populaire V still leads by 195 miles on the timetable. The race against time continues.

The record in figures
Record to beat
To become holder of the Jules Verne record, the Maxi Banque Populaire V has to be back no later than the 11th March 2011 at 7 pm 55 minutes 37 seconds (Paris time).

Reference time
Groupama 3 (Franck Cammas): 48d 7h 44min 52s

Lead / Delay at 3:00pm
 156.1 miles ahead of the reference time

Maxi Banque Populaire V’s crew list
Off Watch :
Pascal Bidégorry : skipper
Juan Vila : navigator

Watch n°1
Yvan Ravussin : Watch leader, in charge of video and composite
Brian Thompson : Helmsman / Trimmer
Thierry Chabagny : Helmsman / Trimmer
Pierre-Yves Moreau : Bowman, in charge of fittings and composite

Watch n°2
Fred Le Peutrec : Watch leader
Emmanuel Le Borgne : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of medics
Erwan Tabarly : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of electonics
Ronan Lucas : Bowman, in charge of security

Watch n°3
Jérémie Beyou  : Watch leader
Kevin Escoffier: Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of video
Xavier Revil  : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of food
Florent Chastel : Bowman, in charge of medics and rigging

Marcel van Triest : Shore weather routeur

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Banque Populaire Mediterranean Record (Photo by B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE)

It was 5.56 am (Paris time) this morning when the Maxi Trimiran Banque Populaire V crossed the Equator, just 5 days 17 hours 44 minutes and 15 seconds since leaving Ushant. The maxi trimaran skippered by Pascal Bidegorry recorded the second fastest time in history on this section of the record attempt (Ushant to Equator). In doing so they have covered 3575 miles, at an average of 25.9 knots, keeping a slight advantage on the reference time of the Jules Verne. The crew is now recovering after a difficult crossing of the Doldrums and before the next challenging obstacle: The Saint Helena High.

Crossing the Equator
Crossing the equator is a not just a geographic area of note, but it also remains a true religion for sailors and the passage of this imaginary line has been celebrated as it should be on board the Maxi Banque Populaire V. The fourteen men have were glad to ease off the pressure they were under through the Doldrums and enjoy the mixture of superstition and tradition.

Three crewmen (Ronan Lucas, Xavier Revil and Pierre-Yves Moreau), who were crossing it for the first time, qualified as rookies for the traditional ‘crossing the line’ ceremony. For this impromptu party, Yvan (Ravussin) made a mixture of olive oil, tea, Tabasco, soya sauce, lemon, nuts, pepper and coffee!  “I asked them to wake me up to celebrate it altogether” explained Xavier. “Yvan’s preparation was really tasty! I am sure he put everything he could find on board! But it was important to share this moment as we had been fighting hard for the past 24 hours to reach the Equator! And the sailing conditions were perfect to do so, at 28 knots under gennaker: rather exceptional apparently.”

It was then Neptune’s turn to be celebrated. For Brian Thompson, who was crossing it for the thirteenth time, this moment was particularly important : “ I made an offering to Neptune of some of France’s finest saucisson, something I would have enjoyed , but better to propitiate the god of the sea, just in case, and to keep the tradition. This is my 13 crossing now, so it has worked so far!”

The Santa Helena dilemma

Getting through the Doldrums was not an easy task for the Maxi Banque Populaire V as the skipper, Pascal Bidegorry, explained: “It’s liberating to get out of there! It was pretty tense yesterday as it is not obvious how to sail in under 2 tiny knots of wind! We should gradually reach better conditions and we are now sailing at 27 knots in 15-17 knots of wind with full mainsail and solent. The wind still oscillates a little, but should stabilize in few hours with a clearer sky.” Such conditions give the crew some time to recover a little, before having to tackle another tricky system.

Indeed, the weather situation is not very clear off the Brazilian coast. With the Saint Helena High blocking the shortest route to the Cape of Good Hope, Banque Populaire V might have to get round this high pressure area spread out from East to West. “The situation is not very clear for now but we might have to go around the northern side of it, which would imply taking a big detour to reach Good Hope. We are attentively looking at the satellite images received every hour. One certain thing is that we do not have a crystal ball to look into but we definitely won’t let any opportunity go, and make everything we can to increase our lead on the reference time” concluded Pascal.

Maxi Banque Populaire V’s crew list
Off Watch :
Pascal Bidégorry : skipper
Juan Vila : navigator

Watch n°1
Yvan Ravussin : Watch leader, in charge of video and composite
Brian Thompson : Helmsman / Trimmer
Thierry Chabagny : Helmsman / Trimmer
Pierre-Yves Moreau : Bowman, in charge of fittings and composite

Watch n°2
Fred Le Peutrec : Watch leader
Emmanuel Le Borgne : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of medics
Erwan Tabarly : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of electonics
Ronan Lucas : Bowman, in charge of security

Watch n°3
Jérémie Beyou  : Watch leader
Kevin Escoffier: Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of video
Xavier Revil  : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of food
Florent Chastel : Bowman, in charge of medics and rigging

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Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire V ( Photo © B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE)

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Banque Populaire Mediterranean Record (Photo by B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE)

The maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire V has set a new TransMed record from Marseille to Carthage, Tunisia taking 2 hours 47 minutes and 47 seconds off Groupama 3′s previous record.

The new record time is now 14 hours 20 minutes and 34 seconds, subject to confirmation by the WSSRC.

The 40m trimaran sailed from Marseille at 03:56:56 GMT Saturday morning and finished at Carthage, Tunisa at 18:17:30 GMT for an average speed of 33.24 knots over the 477 mile course. She hit a peak speed of 43.1 knots.

Banque Populaire Crew (Photo by B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE)

Subject to ratification of the WSSRC

Banque Populaire (Photo by B.STICHELBAUT/BPCE)

Cheer with the crew of the record of the Mediterranean

Marcel Van Triest – router with ground

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Banque Populaire V On Standby (Photo by BPCE/Benoit Stichelbaut)

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Banque Populaire V During Record Crossing (Photo by Team Banque Populaire V)

Pascal Bidégorry and his crew of 11 men aboard the maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V, smashed the Transatlantic Record crossing the North Atlantic,by half a day. They also broke the 24hr record with 908 miles.
Groupama 3 also broke their own record set in 2007.

THE ATLANTIC CROSSING RECORD

The first record time for sailing across the North Atlantic was established by the ATLANTIC schooner, a 56 m long three-masted vessel skippered by the famous American captain Charlie Barr in 1905, in more than 12 days. For 75 years this record was not beaten.

Eric Tabarly was to be the first person to smash it in 1980 aboard his trimaran PAUL RICARD, cutting the time to 10 days.

Marc Pajot (ELF AQUITAINE I), Patrick Morvan (JET SERVICES II), Loïc Caradec & Philippe Facques (ROYALE II), Philippe Poupon (FLEURY MICHON VIII), then Serge Madec (JET SERVICES V) each in turn reduceD the time, the latter having achieved the crossing in 6 days 13h 3mn and 32s in June 1990 at an average speed of 18.42 knots. This record was to remain in everyone’s mind, as it stood for more than 10 years.

We had to wait for the new generation of maxi-catamarans built for The Race for the record held by JET SERVICES V to be smashed. It was beaten on 10th October 2001 by the American Steve Fossett aboard his 38 m maxi-catamaran PLAYSTATION in 4 days, 17 hours, 28 mn and 6s, at an incredible average speed of 25.78 knots.

Bruno Peyron and his Orange II crew smashed Fossett’s record aboard the maxi catamaran Orange II, finishing the course from Ambrose Light near New York City to Lizard Point off the southwestern tip of Great Britain in just 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds – more than 9 hours faster than Fossett. Halfway through the 3,100 nautical mile trip, Orange II hit a submerged iceberg and broke one of its two steering rudders.

The Orange II Dream Team improved on the record set by Steve Fossett’s PlayStation by 9 hours 4 minutes and 12 seconds, a record that was said to be unbeatable.

Next was 105 foot trimaran Groupama III , in 2007
With an almost unbelievable time of 4 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes and 54 seconds, beating Bruno Peyron’s time on Orange II by almost 5 hours.

Today in 2009 that record has been shattered again.
Prelimary times until ratified are,

Groupama 3, – 3 days 18 hrs, 12 min, 58 secs – average speed 31.92 kts

Banque Populaire V,- 3 days, 15 hrs,25 min,48 secs, average speed 32.94 kts, peak speed 47.15 kts,

24 Hour Record, 908 mile, average speed of 37.8 kts
1905 – Charlie Barr – Atlantic – USA – 12d 4h 1m – 10.02 kts
1980 – Eric Tabarly – Paul Ricard – FRA – 10d 5h 14m – 11.93 kts
1981 – Marc Pajot Elf – Aquitaine – FRA – 9d 10h 6m – 12.94 kts
1984 – Patrick Morvan – Jet Services II – FRA 8d 16h 33m – 14.03 kts
1986 – Loïc Caradec – Royale II – FRA – 7d 21h 5m – 15.47 kts
1987 – Philippe Poupon – Fleury Michon VIII – FRA – 7d 12h 50m – 16.18 kts
1988 – Serge Madec – Jet Services V – FRA -7d 6h 30m – 16.76 kts
1990 – Serge Madec – Jet Services V – FRA – 6d 13h 3m – 18.62 kts
2001 – Steve Fossett – PlayStation – USA – 4d 17h 28m 6s – 25.78 kts
2006 – Bruno Peyron – Orange II – FRA – 4d 8h 23m 54s – 28 kts
2007 – Franck Cammas – Groupama 3 – FRA – 4d 3h 57m 54s – 29.26 kts

Challenge and Adventure's George Bekris On Board Banque Prior To Record Populaire Breaking Crossing (Photo by Donna Erichsen)

Banque Populaire V Crew Before Breaking The North Atlantic Record (Photo by Team Banque Populaire)

Groupama 3 Finishing Atlantic Crossing (Photo by Alex Julian)

Challenge and Adventure's George Bekris onboard Groupama 3 (Photo by Donna Erichsen)

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Banque Populaire Sets Out From Ambrose Light In New York (Photo by BFBP/Team Banque Populaire)

The maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V has set out from New York  to break the North Atlantic crossing record.  They set out shortly after Groupama 3 and had winds of 25 – 30 knots last night as the multihull skippered by Pascal Bidégorry crossed the starting line at Ambrose Light, off New York at 00:47 min 42s,    Banque  Populaire V will carry a crew of 11.  Pascal Bidégorry is not the only one to have chosen this window weather, since Groupama 3, holding of the title, also left New York shortly before Pascal to try to also break the record. A true duel of Titans is thus played currently on the open ocean Atlantic. Time to beat: 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes 54 seconds The delivery! One month after its arrival in the Marina from Brooklyn to New York, the maximum trimaran Banque Populaire V finally will be able show her capabilities. The North Atlantic crossing is 2925 miles for the newest of the giants.  Between the lighthouse of Ambrose off New York and the finishing line between Ushant and the Cape Lizard, the time of reference to beat is 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes and 57 seconds. The weather window seems very promising. The meteorologist Marcel Van Triest thinks this is the right window for the 40 meter tri.  On a course between the New World and the Old continent has challenging conditions.

Total distance defined is by the WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Council Record)  Pascal Bidégorry was ready for this departure as the Banque Populaire V waited in New York for a month to get this weather window.

Crew List for the Record attempt
Pascal Bidégorry – skipper, shift leader
Ronan Lucas – helmsman
Kévin Escoffier – coxswain
Yvan Ravussin – shift leader
Ewen Clech – number one
Sebastien Audigane – shift leader
Florent Chastel – number one
Jean-Baptiste Le Vallant – coxswain
Emmanuel Le Borgne – coxswain
Marcel Van Triest – navigator
Pierre-Yves Moreau – number one
Xavier Revil – coxswain

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