Geronimo charges towards Hawaii

by Sam Crichton on 13 Nov 2005 At 21:14:56 UTC the giant ocean warrior Geronimo, the Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran, crossed the start line of the 2225 mile Los Angeles Honolulu Challenge record attempt off Point Fermin California in proximity of the north entrance of San Pedro harbour of Los Angeles California. The finish line is at Diamond Head Honolulu, Hawaii.

Overnight the crew had a long trip up the coast from San Diego to the start line which is also used for the traditional Transpac race. ‘We had a frustrating time travelling from Catalina to San Pedro for the start line in fluky light breezes,’ said skipper de Kersauson.

Crossing the line at 14 knots boat speed and with a bearing of 210 degrees, the crew have embarked on a voyage that will require them to average over 16 knots boat speed to break the current record of five days, nine hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds set in 1997 by Bruno Peyron. Geronimo will make for the open sea today to attempt to pick up the ocean breeze tonight.

Skipper Olivier de Kersauson commented over the radio after the departure ‘A big thank you to everyone who assisted with the start of this record’. These waters are familiar to de Kersauson, he raced in the Transpac 35 years ago on Pen Duick V alongside his mentor Eric Tabarly.

The 11 man team have removed any non essential weight from the boat in order to give themselves every possible chance of breaking this eight year record. This year Geronimo has set two speed sailing records circumnavigating Australia in 17 days, 13 hours, 32 minutes and 39 seconds and the newly set Sydney to Tahiti record for the Tahiti Nui Challenge. In 2004, Geronimo won the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigating the globe in 63 days.

Principal Race Officer of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, David Cort, set the start line and was the official starter while Mike Wathen was the WSSRC official time keeper observing the start of this record attempt. Recording the finish time in Hawaii for the WSSRC will be Rick Winterbottom and the Hawaii Yacht Club will host Geronimo during her short stopover before the boat returns to San Diego.