Record for Delta Lloyd

Friday 04 December 2009 09:12 GMT

NEWS ROUND-UP

Delta Lloyd, skippered by Bouwe Bekking, has set a new North Sea record by sailing from Lowestoft to Ijmuiden, the Netherlands in 5 hours, 23 minutes and 18 seconds. Bekking and his crew beat the previous record by 23 minutes.

The boat was crewed by a mix of Dutch professionals and amateurs and employees of Delta Lloyd. 

The record was first set in 1981 by windsurfers Stefan van den Berg en John van der Starre in a time was 8 hours and 8 minutes.

In 2007, Hans Bouscholte, aboard a Open 60 Brunel, lowered the mark to 6 hours and 22 minutes. The following year the Volvo Open 60 Pleomax (former Silk Cut) with skipper Harm Prins, recorded a time of 5 hours and 59 minutes.

It was Bekking's first time at the helm of the boat, the former ABN AMRO ONE, the winner of the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race race under the charge of Mike Sanderson.

He said: "She felt like a dream to drive, very easy to control ... and half as wet as the puppy I sailed around the world (Telefonica Blue in 2008-09)."

Groupama 3 on the move

Groupama 3, the 105-foot trimaran, has been repaired in Cape Town and will head back to sea again today bound for her home port of Brest where preparations will be made for another attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy.

The boat, skippered by Franck Cammas, sustained damage during her previous attempt last month. She is expected to take two to three weeks to cover the 6,000 miles separating her from Brittany.

"Once we'd worked out where the damage was, it was necessary to bring in the architects and engineers to determine the cause so that we could be sure about what repairs and reinforcement were required on the beam-float joints," said Fred Le Peutrec, who will be the acting skipper during this climb up the Atlantic.

Looking back on their failed attempt, Cammas said: "We were really on the pace. Despite our retirement, we monitored the evolution of the weather system we'd been sailing in. It was excellent as far as Australia. That goes to prove the quality of the work carried out by Stan Honey, our navigator, as well as Sylvain Mondon, the weather adviser at Meteo France.

"This augurs well for the next stage and the five weeks of stand-by we'll have at our disposal between 1st January and 6th February for our new attempt."

Frenchman Cammas and Groupama recently announced their participation in the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race.

PODCAST

In this week's Volvo Sailing podcast there is the latest from the Dubai to Muscat race, including reaction following the capture of Sail Bahrain's crew by authorities in Iranian waters and a preview of the World Yacht Racing Forum. 

Related Audio

• Volvo Sailing Podcast December 4th