Geronimo in start sequence for Transpac attempt
by Sam Crichton 11 Nov 2005 11:57 GMT
12 November 2005
On Shelter Island in San Diego California the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran Geronimo is presently all systems go to ensure current preparations have the boat in optimum racing configuration for the 2215 mile Transpac record attempt.
Joining Geronimo’s regular eight man French team attempting to break Bruno Peyron’s five day, nine hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds record will be USA sailors Cam Lewis and Larry Rosenfeld. Cam and Larry are no strangers to maxi multihulls and speed sailing records. Both men are part of the Team Adventure crew and Cam was part of the Explorer team when she set the current Transpac record in 1997. Also onboard for this trip is long time friend of Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor Pierre English, who raced with Eric Tabarly on Pen Duick II, III and VI.
Geronimo’s management have been closely monitoring the weather patterns for the cross Pacific run and a favourable weather window has arrived and now the crew are in a countdown for a weekend departure. Long range race items have been removed to reduce the overall weight of the boat to ensure the team have every opportunity to set a new record. ‘The crew have been busy preparing for this attempt and with the current boat set up we think we have a chance,’ commented skipper Olivier de Kersauson.
Geronimo’s crew have been preparing the boat’s systems, going over everything before they leave San Diego this Friday night USA Pacific time, spending time settling into the boat again before they head north to Los Angeles to cross the start line early Saturday morning USA Pacific time. Working on the engineering has been Jean Charles Corre and Antoine Deru with Philippe Laot and Xavier Douin working on sails and engineering as well. Lucas Zamecknic has been focusing on winch servicing and Yannick Agaësse taking care of provisioning keeping in mind, weight is very important in this record attempt.
US crew members Cam Lewis and Larry Rosenfeld will be involved with the navigation and tactics on this trip. Principal Race Officer of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, David Cort, will set the start line and be the official starter while Mike Wathen will be the WSSRC official time keeper observing the start of this record attempt.
Once in Hawaii Geronimo will have a two day stopover before she heads back to California. Tracking of the progress of this attempt for the Transpac Challenge by Geronimo can been seen at www.superyachting.com