The assault on the Transpacific
After Alain Thébault who tried his luck on June 22nd aboard his famous hydrofoil - but failed after a 10-day crossing, 3 Transpacs took place in July, bringing together a total of 59 participants. The first Transpac, which departed on July 13, had 22 participants. The second, which started on July 16, had 18 crews and the last, which started on July 18, had 19 crews.
And from now on, it's a done deal. The World Sailing Speed Record Council has been approving sailing speed records since 1972, and it has just validated the Transpac's absolute record. Renaud Laplanche, a Frenchman based in San Francisco and founder of the Lending Club company, a sailing enthusiast and seasoned skipper, and Ryan Breymaier (USA), skipper of Hugo Boss in the Barcelona World Race, have just won the challenge.
With their crew and aboard the 105-foot trimaran, Lending Club 2, they set a new record. From 15 to 19 July, they reached Honolulu in 3 days 18 hours and 9 seconds with an average speed of 24.61 knots over 2215 minutes. They had already tried the experiment in 2013 aboard an ORMA trimaran but had had to deal with debris left by the Japanese tsunami in 2011 and arrived in Hawaii only two hours behind Kersauson's record.
The previous record was 4 days, 19 hours, 31 minutes and 37 seconds, set in November 2005 by Olivier de Kersauson. Accompanied by his crew, he was aboard Geronimo, a 110-foot trimaran. Before him, Bruno Peyron had completed the crossing in July 1997 in 5 days, 09 hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds.
Lending Club 2 had entered the 2015 biennial Transpac race in the hope of setting a new race record as well as an absolute record. While the weather forecast predicted deteriorating conditions for the July 18th start, the crew chose to leave on July 15th to take advantage of a better weather window and attempt the absolute record.
The award ceremony will take place on July 31 at the Modern Hotel in Honolulu.
Lending Club 2, Banque Populaire VII or Groupama, the boat of all records
Lending Club 2 was launched in 2006 as Groupama and later renamed Banque Populaire VII. It was aboard her that Loïck Peyron won the Route du Rhum 2014. Laplanche bought her to carry out a record programme in 2015. He has already achieved the absolute record between Cowes and Dinard and the record between Newport and Bermuda.
It will then be in the hands of Francis Joyon, who will attempt to set the crewed round the world record (Jules Verne Trophy), currently held by Loïck Peyron with a time of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds. Joyon will receive the boat in mid-September for readjustments and will be on stand-by for the Jules Verne Trophy in early November.
The Transpacific in detail
The first Transpac was organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club in 1906. The Transpacific Yacht Race or Transpac is a sailing race off Point Fermin, Los Angeles, to Diamond Head, east of Honolulu. That is to say a distance of 2225 mn. It is one of the world's great ocean races. Held every two years, it attracts some of the world's fastest sailboats, as well as some of the most talented sailors and adventurers in ocean racing.
