Lending Club 2, the 105-foot maxi trimaran has broken its 3rd and final record in 4 months time. After abandoning the TransPac Race in favor of better wind conditions, the team, led by co-skipper and Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche set sail for Hawaii from Los Angeles on Wednesday with the hopes of breaking the speed record for the 2,215 nautical mile sprint.
After just 3 days 8 hours and 9 seconds, Lending Club 2 arrived in Hawaii, unofficially taking a full 24 hours off of the previous record, set by a similar maxi-tri, Geronimo, in 2005. At an average speed of 24.61 knots, the crew made about 590 nm a day, a speed that they feel could have been improved upon had they had to spend less time searching for ocean debris to avoid. The Lending Club team knows these perils well, as their previous record setting attempt at the TransPac in 2012 was hindered by almost 10 hours due to damage caused by impacts with debris.
The crew is currently waiting for ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, but there is no doubt that the official time will have broken the standing record by a significant margin.
