Monday, August 03, 2009

24 hour Sailing Record Set


If you think you've had a good day when you cover 200 miles, it's hard to get your head around the numbers. French skipper Pascal Bidegorry and his Banque Populaire V trimaran on Saturday covered 880 nautical miles in 24 hours, to set a new record...then they set another and another

The 12-man crew covered the 880 nautical miles at an average speed of 36.66 knots by 06:00GMT Saturday morning to beat the previous mark of 843.7 achieved just three hours earlier by compatriot Franck Cammas.

Then, incredibly, in the space of 10 hours they beat the record eight times! With 907 miles covered in 24 hours, Maximum Banque Populaire V is the new holder of the record with an average of 37.79

It must have been disappointing for Cammas, who with his Groupama 3 crew at 03:00GMT set a new record which beat the previous mark of 784.4 nautical miles which they had achieved in July 2007.

The two yachts had been attempting to break the record for crossing the north Atlantic, a distance of 2,925 nautical miles (5,417 km) between Ambrose Channel, off New York, and Lizard Point in south-west England.

Cammas and Groupama 3 have held that record - of 4 days, 03 hours, 57 minutes and 54 seconds (average: 29.26 knots) - since July 24, 2007.

No comments: