Team Adventure challenges Playstation to Transatlantic Race
by Keith Taylor 18 Jul 2001 07:56 BST
MAXI CATAMARAN TEAM ADVENTURE CHALLENGES RIVAL PLAYSTATION TO TRANSATLANTIC MATCH RACE
Cam Lewis, skipper of the 110-foot American catamaran Team Adventure, today challenged Steve Fossett, skipper of the 125-foot catamaran PlayStation to a 3,000 mile match race across the
Atlantic Ocean.
The giant multihulls, two of the largest and fastest catamarans in the world, are preparing for an attack on the transatlantic sailing record. They are splitting their standby time between New York and Newport, RI, as they wait for a favorable weather window.
Team Adventure will be campaigned by Lewis, from Lincolnville, ME and his Swiss/French co-skipper Laurent Bourgnon. They will sail with an international crew of 15, including Larry Rosenfeld, Lewis' partner in Team Adventure, who will be navigator. Their big catamaran recently finished
third in the Race of the Millennium non-stop race around the world. PlayStation started The Race but withdrew in the South Atlantic Ocean with gear damage.
"Steve's a tough competitor with a great crew and a bigger boat, but we think we're faster," said Lewis today. "We were disappointed not to race PlayStation around the world but a sprint across the Atlantic will be a good substitute. Besides, a little competition might generate the extra energy
needed to break the record."
Lewis acknowledged that Fossett is about to put his sailing plans on hold while he attempts a solo round-the-world balloon flight, starting from Australia.
"If we get a suitable weather window opportunity while Steve's away, we'll go without him," Lewis said. "If we're still waiting for the weather when he returns, we look forward to match racing PlayStation for the record."
The existing mark of 6 days, 13 hours, 3 min, and 32 sec was set by French skipper Serge Madec sailing the 75-foot catamaran Jet Services V, in June 1990. Madec and his crew averaged 18.42 knots (34.5 kph) for the crossing.
Two years ago, sailing Bourgnon's 60-foot trimaran Foncia Immoblier, Lewis and Bourgnon narrowly missed breaking the record when they ran out of wind only 46 miles from the finish. Theirs was the closest of nine attempts in the last 11 years to eclipse Madec's time.
A prize of 200,000 French francs ($US26,000) and a beautiful trophy has been posted by Roger Caille, former president of the French courier operation Jet Services, for any boat that breaks the record of the boat his company sponsored.
"We have the credentials, the boat and the crew to smash this record," Rosenfeld said today. "The only other ingredient we need is suitable weather. We don't need a lot of wind. Steady 20 knot breezes will let us maintain speeds above 25 knots, well over the 18.5-knot average speed needed to break the record."
Lewis and Bourgnon are already in the Guinness Book of World Records as holders of the east to west record. In 1994, they raced Foncia, then named Primagaz, from Plymouth, England, to Newport, RI, in 9 days, 8 hours, 58 min. The record still stands. The same year, Bourgnon also set the singlehanded west to east transatlantic record aboard Primagaz, logging a time of 7 days, 2 hours, 34 min.
Team Adventure arrived in New York City and docked at Chelsea Piers late in the afternoon on Friday, July 13. She had sailed from the Palmer Johnson Yacht Yard in Savannah, GA, where she underwent a thorough refit, following completion of the Race of the Millennium.
Lewis said the big cat would divide her time between New York and Newport as the team waited for the right weather patterns to materialize in the North Atlantic.
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