Forty-five days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds after crossing the starting line between Ushant, and Lizard Point, France, the Maxi Banque Populaire V arrived in Brest, France, as winner of the coveted Jules Verne Trophy.
Just three and a half years after being launched in August 2008 and following a second attempt at the trophy, the maxi-trimaran made history circling the globe in a little more than 45 days.
Skipper Loïck Peyron and his crew of 13 covered 29,002 nm at an average speed of 26.51 knots beating Franck Cammas and Groupama 3’s 2010 record of 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds.
The race was filled with challenges that included periods of being becalmed, ice and heavy seas in the Southern Ocean and very harsh sailing conditions at the midway point through the Pacific. The final leg of their return took them west of the Azores and onwards to France for a spectacular finish on Jan. 7.
According to Peyron, “It is not only 45 days at sea that we have just done, but decades of work, and years of commitment from Banque Populaire into sailing. We must also pay tribute to Pascal Bidégorry who designed this boat, to Hubert Desjoyeaux who built her and sadly passed away recently, and to the whole team, of course. We had this great opportunity to rest on each other. The confidence we had one in the other makes us paradoxically rested. Surprisingly, this race is not the most tiring. All records are made to be broken and this one will be one day. If there is a boat that can beat it, it is this one!”
