Banque Populaire / Sodebo round the world / Trophee Jules Verne

[Doug Lord]

This huge tri is on "Code Orange"-on alert for starting the round the world quest to beat Groupama 3's record.

What do the codes red, orange and green mean?
Code Red

Code red means that no window is not present to the crew for at least 3 days.
-----------------
Code Orange:

Possible start in 48 to 72 hours - The crew prepares to leave the zone - can be followed by a passage in green code or return code red.
-----------------
Code Green:

The crew is on task for a departure within 24 to 48 hours.


http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/home.html#2

Name: Maxi Banque Populaire V
Type: Maxi trimaran Ocean
Length of the mainhull: 40 m / 131.2'
Length of float: 37 m / 121'
Beam: 23 m / 75.4'
Displacement: 23 tons
Draft: 5.80 m / 19'
Mast Height: 47 m / 154'
80 tons of pressure at the foot of the mast
Curved foils: 300 kilos
SA: 450 m2 / 4842 sq. ft.
Gennaker: 610 m2 / 6563 sq.ft.


Godfather : Jacques Perrin - Actor, producer, director.



click on image:

[Doug Lord]

Back in Code Red.......

[Doug Lord]

The Team has been on Code Red for a long time-anybody read any more about these guys?

[Doug Lord]

May be getting close to starting-they've switched to Code Orange*.

* Code Orange:

Possible start in 48 to 72 hours - The crew prepares to leave- can be followed by a passage in green code or return code red

===========
UPDATE,1/20/11: Sodebo, fitted with her new curved foils, is about to depart as well! http://www.sodebo-voile.com/

Update, 1/22/11: Sodebo has postponed their start!

click on image:

[Doug Lord]

Code Green: start possible tomorrow!

http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/home.html#2



click on image:

[Doug Lord]

Banque Populaire has started her quest to be the fastest around the world:


Top start for the Maxi Banque Populaire V!
Saturday, January 22, 2011 - 14:30
It's 12 hours 11 minutes and 45 seconds (Paris time) on Saturday as Maxi Banque Populaire V crossed the start line of the Jules Verne Trophy between Ushant and the Lizard Peninsula, thus ending a patient waiting and opening a new page of the ledger records. This first attempt engages in weather still subject to uncertainties for the Maxi Trimaran reinforced by the Bank of Sailing, but just release the sailors whose desire to do battle this morning was irrepressible.

[Corley]

Looks like they have gone from marginally behind to marginally in front of G3's reference time cruising at 30kts

[Doug Lord]

I want to thank Jeff for changing the title of this thread so that we can follow Sodebo and Banque Populaire together!
http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/home.html#2

--------------
Sodebo started today1/29/11 in 25 knots of wind. http://www.sodebo-voile.com/actu/new...op-depart.html

[Doug Lord]

Incredible video of Sodebo almost losing it just after the start. She is attempting the record for round the world solo while Banque Populaire is crewed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQvPM...ayer_embedded#


=====================
UPDATE: 1/30/11 from Scuttlebutt-

Current position as of January 30, 2011 (23:00 UTC):
Ahead/behind record: +18.6 nm
Speed over past 24 hours: 18.6 knots
Distance over past 24 hours: 447.2 nm
Tracking: http://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/tourdumonde/2011/

[yipster]

that was close i would think, looking fwd to more post and what time their gonna make

[Doug Lord]

From Scuttlebutt Europe:

Getting To The South

It was 5.56 am (Paris time) this morning when the Maxi Trimiran Banque Populaire V crossed the Equator, just 5 days 17 hours 44 minutes and 15 seconds since leaving Ushant. The maxi trimaran skippered by Pascal Bidegorry recorded the second fastest time in history on this section of the record attempt (Ushant to Equator). In doing so they have covered 3575 miles, at an average of 25.9 knots, keeping a slight advantage on the reference time of the Jules Verne. The crew is now recovering after a difficult crossing of the Doldrums and before the next challenging obstacle: The Saint Helena High.

Getting through the Doldrums was not an easy task for the Maxi Banque Populaire V as the skipper, Pascal Bidegorry, explained: "It's liberating to get out of there! It was pretty tense yesterday as it is not obvious how to sail in under 2 tiny knots of wind! We should gradually reach better conditions and we are now sailing at 27 knots in 15-17 knots of wind with full mainsail and solent. The wind still oscillates a little, but should stabilize in few hours with a clearer sky." Such conditions give the crew some time to recover a little, before having to tackle another tricky system.

With the Saint Helena High blocking the shortest route to the Cape of Good Hope, Banque Populaire V might have to get round this high pressure area spread out from East to West. "The situation is not very clear for now but we might have to go around the northern side of it, which would imply taking a big detour to reach Good Hope. We are attentively looking at the satellite images received every hour. One certain thing is that we do not have a crystal ball to look into but we definitely won't let any opportunity go, and make everything we can to increase our lead on the reference time" concluded Pascal.www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr
===========
From Scuttlebutt USA:
Current position as of January 30, 2011 (23:00 UTC):
Ahead/behind record: -117.7 nm
Speed over past 24 hours: 16.5 knots
Distance over past 24 hours: 397.1 nm
Tracking: http://tinyurl.com/BP-JVT11-Tracking

[Doug Lord]

Seems to me that these big tri's with lifting foils might benefit from rudder t-foils that might have prevented Sodebo going so far as it did. The curved lifting foils definitely help keep the ama bow up BUT when the thing pitches to the point those foils are at a negative angle of incidence they will help to pitchpole the boat. Sodebo was lucky and handled very skillfully. Rudder T-foils might "reinforce" that critical point in pitching to prevent the foils going negative.

[cavalier mk2]

Rudder t-foils could also have been a 2 edged sword. It is possible that if the stern broke free with t-foils the sudden release would cause a much faster nose dive with less time for letting out sails etc....he might have had to stop talking.

[Doug Lord]

From Brian Thompson:

At 2am CET Banque Populaire V hit an unidentified object. At the time the maxi tri was doing 37 knots, but when the collision happens the boat did not stop. The crew made the decision to stop the boat, furl the sails and try to inspect the damage. is has since become clear that the crashbox of the daggerboard has been damaged and 40 cm of the daggerboard is missing. The crew slowed the boat down to 25 knots, and will wait until the conditions improve before they attempt a repair. I will post more details as they come in.

http://www.facebook....157715017602464

http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/...825.html#suite

[Doug Lord]

Press release: http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/...oard-3852.html

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.


Pascal Bidegorry came back on the operation on the phone this morning: "At night, we arrived in an area allowing us to lift the daggerboard without too much difficulty. The handling took us nearly three hours during which we lied off. Emmanuel Le Borgne took the “benefit” of it to dive under the Maxi Banque Populaire V to assess possible damage onto the rudder blades and hull bottoms. There is nothing serious on those matters. Once the dagg on the deck, we found out that there is a missing piece of roughly 2m20. The shock was so intense that it broke the structural bar of the dagg. We are currently trying to cut out the end of it, which is reduced to shreds. However the mission is not that simple at all with the few tools we have. We are using a hacksaw and a drill. Once cut, we will study the possibility to stratify it. Our objective is to shut the lower part of it to make it waterproof. Otherwise, it would continue to delaminate with speed.”

A lot of work is expected for the next 24 hours, during which the Maxi Banque Populaire V will have to sail at a reduced pace.