Two sailboat skippers, one from San Francisco, set sail at about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning from Newport, R.I., with the goal of breaking the world sailing speed record, according to a spokesperson for the two.
The course will take the co-skippers Renaud Laplanche of San Francisco and Ryan Breymaier of Maryland to Bermuda aboard the 105 feet trimaran Lending Club 2.
The late Steve Fossett set the record in 2000 on the same course with a time of 38 hours, 35 minutes and 53 seconds. Fossett’s boat averaged about 16 knots during the trip, according to the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
Lending Club 2 is capable of speeds of more than 40 knots and could complete the course in 28 hours or less. Laplanche and Breymaier were south and west of New Jersey as of 6 a.m. Pacific time this morning, spokesperson Jan Harley said.
Keith Burbank, Bay City News
