Pascal Bidégorry and Lionel Lemonchois, win the seventh run of the Transat Jacques Vabre race in record time over the 5 190 miles long course from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia, at an average time of almost fifteen and a half knots over a straight line course ! Banque Populaire chalks up her second win of the ORMA season after the IB Group Challenge (Lorient-Nice) in May of this year, as well as the ORMA Multihull Championship 2005. A perfect season for Pascal Bidegorry, the new skipper of Banque Populaire, none other than the ex-Bayer CropScience (skippered by Frédéric Le Peutrec in 2002-2003), totally overhauled in her base in Lorient last year.
Banque Populaire
Finishing date : Sunday 20th November 2005 at 15h 46' 29'' UT
Race time : 14 days 01 hour 46 minutes 29 seconds
Orthodromic or « great circle » average (in relation to a straight line course, 5 190 miles) : 15.37 knots