The Jules Vern Trophy is one of the enduring sailing records to beat and is awarded to the yacht with the fastest trip around the world. The first “running” was in the novel buy Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days in which Phileas Fogg makes the trip around the world (albeit by railroad and steamboat) in 80 days. The current holder of the record is Banque Populaire V skippered by Loick Peyron in 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds. This is a great video summary of the trip. Funny, but even at 30 knots a behemoth like Banque Populaire V doesn’t look all that fast. No, actually it does look fast, really fast.
This running is just one more example of how the French take sailing very seriously and multihulls in particular. Too bad that we in the US don’t look at it that way.
I guess that Pandora won’t be going for the trophy any time soon. No, with crew (Brenda), no make that the “honored guest” that says “the best part of sailing is being anchored” I expect that a non-stop run around the planet wouldn’t happen any time soon. For now, I will have to enjoy videos of others doing this.
Actually, my aspirations fall far short of a circumnavigation. Oh yea, the answer is that this boat is way faster, as are a lot of boats. The good news is that there are tons that are slower, at least the mere mortal ones.