Before joining the Idec team and Francis Joyon, the Banque Populaire VII trimaran was leased by French entrepreneur and millionaire Renaud Laplanche, for a series of records. The businessman and sailing enthusiast (this former high-level laserist gave up racing to devote himself to his studies) picked up the boat in Lorient, at the Keroman base.
Credit: Phil Uhl
The trimaran entered the yard to be put in the colors of the US-based businessman's company, Lending Club, and underwent some modifications: higher rigging for full power sailing. Launched on March 19, 2015, the trimaran took the name Lending Club 2.
For this record-breaking campaign in the summer of 2015, Renaud Laplanche teamed up with Ryan Breymaier, an American skipper who has been living in France since 2006 to join the Veolia program with Roland Jourdain. The two coskippers recruited an international team consisting of Frenchmen Roland Jourdain and Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, German Boris Herrman and Dutchman Wouter Verbraak, onshore router. This series of records was played out in the UK, France and the USA.
After a series of training sessions, Renaud Laplanche and his crew set a new reference time between Cowes and Dinard. They crossed the English Channel in 5 hours 15 minutes and 07 seconds at an average speed of 26.36 knots. The previous record set by the Maiden crew (Brian Thompson, Adrienne Cahalan and crew) was held since 2002, in 5 h 23 min and 38 sec.
The crew then achieved a new record between Newport and Bermuda with a crossing of 23 h 9' 52'' at an average speed of 27 knots.
Finally, the businessman and Ryan Bremaier broke the Transpac record between Los Angeles and Honolulu. They covered 2,215 miles in 3 days 18 hours 09 minutes at an average speed of 24.61 knots. That is 25 hours less than Olivier de Kersauson and his crew, on Geronimo, ten years ago (Read A new all-time record on the Transpacific ).
For this record, the crew was composed of Americans Jan Majer, Ryan Breymaier, and Skip McCormak, Frenchmen Stanislas Delbarre, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant and Roland Jourdain, German Boris Herrmann, New Zealander Quin Bisset.
