Thursday, December 8, 2011

Banque Populaire hammering at the Jules Verne Trophy

The 130 foot maxi trimaran, Banque Populaire, skippered by Loick Peyron, is, at this moment, somewhere in the Southern Ocean near Australia, chasing the Round the World record.

I've featured videos of these amazing craft before. It's always hard to get a gauge on the speed of these monsters but at 45 seconds into the following video, Banque Populaire happens upon a cruising catamaran (probably doing 4 or 5 knots under jib only).

Earwigoagin's European correspondent, Romain, was kind enough to translate the French for us provincial Americans;
"The guy in the French Original Version says that they are doing 33 knots and that the leisure catamaran they overtake does maybe 6"

Whoosh...............

Video removed from Vimeo.

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3 comments:

  1. BaydogDecember 8, 2011 at 5:41 PM

    Tweezer: I know they are amazingly fast, but why am I not excited by them nor the AC boats? I'm more impressed by the Vendee Globe or Volvo boats going fast with one hull.

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  2. TweezermanDecember 9, 2011 at 9:47 AM

    Baydog

    I tend to agree with you. A Volvo boat with a cockpit full of water and the crew stuck out in the elements has more visual excitement. Still, this is one impressive machine. Did you look at the arrangement of the mainsheet blocks. There are some serious loads going on here. No one should doubt the guts and seamanship of this crew driving at these speeds day in and day out.

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  3. Romain BERARDDecember 13, 2011 at 12:52 AM

    The guy in the French Original Version says that they are doing 33 knots and that the leisure catamaran they overtake does maybe 6...

    ReplyDelete