Record / Banque Populaire V takes possession of the Jules Verne Trophy (Video)

The fourteen sailors aboard the Maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V just entered history of offshore racing by becoming the fastest men around the globe with crew, after 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds of sailing*. Loïck Peyron and his crew improved the reference time of the Jules Verne Trophy held by Groupama 3 since March 2010 by 2 days 18 hours 1 minute and 59 seconds.

Credit : BPCE

Rolex Fasnet Race / The Maxi Banque Populaire V storming the Fastnet !

Few weeks after scoring on the British Isles Record, the Maxi Banque Populaire V and her crew are preparing to set sail again towards the English shores. On 14 August, Loïck Peyron and his men will get off on one of the most legendary offshore racing events, the Everest of Anglo-Saxon sailing, the Rolex Fastnet Race. On the agenda, a start in the Solent led by hundreds of yachts of all sizes and for all, a grail, a goal, the famous Irish lighthouse. Difficult, often inflexible, this course is built for performance. Enough to urge the Team Banque Populaire who will take part in it for the first time with the giant trimaran.

Credit : B. Stichelbaut / BPCE

The Banque Populaire Team forced to retire from its first attempt of the Jules Verne Trophy

 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.

credit : B Stichelbaut / BPCE

Jules Verne Trophy / Banque Populaire V’s crew attempts a repair on its daggerboard (Vidéo)

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.