June 12, 2006 Frenchman Olivier de Kersuason and his eight-man crew have set a new record for West-East passage across the Pacific. Aboard the 100-foot trimaran, Geronimo, the crew made the 4,482-mile crossing in 13 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes, and 28 seconds.
The new record ousted fellow Frenchman Bruno Peyron’s 1998 record crossing from the top spot, with more than 18 hours to spare, as reported by the International Sailing Federation (ISF).
Geronimo embarked on its journey from Yokohama, Japan, on May 29 and the trimaran floated into San Francisco Bay, its ultimate finish line, at 00h43m GST Monday morning, according to the team’s Web site www.trimaran-geronimo.com.
When questioned about what he would do if someone broke his record, de Kersuason responded via radio minutes before crossing the finish line, “I think I’d get sick. They can do it if they want. Not me ever again. I can put up with difficult times, but I never want to go through that again.”
One of the biggest challenges for the team was the weather, a constant x-factor despite the technology the team had on board.
“You can’t control the conditions, said de Kersuason on the team’s Web site. “The weather forecasts are given every six hours and in six hours everything can change dramatically in this area. So you have to do what you can with the situation…. But the coast of Japan I can do without. You can understand why the country remained cut off from the rest of the world for so long. The weather is incomprehensible.”
“Of all our campaigns, this has to be the most inauspicious.” De Kersuason added.
In the past two years, Geronimo has broken several records, most recently being Steve Fossett’s East-West crossing of the Pacific in April.
