Virgin Money leaves New York on Transatlantic Record Attempt
by Justine Ozoux 22 Oct 2008 17:21 BST
22 October 2008
Holly & Sir Richard Branson at the beginning of their transatlantic record attempt © Virgin Money
The 99ft monohull maxi-yacht Virgin Money (ex-Speedboat owned by Alex Jackson, USA) set sail this morning on its Cross-Atlantic Challenge. Richard Branson, his children Holly (26) and Sam (23) and the TEAMORIGIN crew, which includes Mike Sanderson as co-skipper and triple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie, aim to break the world record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, currently set at 6 days 17 hours, 39 minutes and 52 seconds.
Virgin Money set sail from New York and passed the official start line
at Ambrose Lighthouse at 04:00 EST (09:00 BST) on 22 October 2008. The
yacht will have to make the target of Lizard Point, the most South
Westerly point of the UK, no later than 21:39.52 EST on 28 October 2008
to break the record.
Announcing the start of the challenge, Sir Richard Branson said: “I
can't quite believe we've decided to leave four hours earlier than
planned to ensure we jump in front of a huge storm. The first 24 hours
we'll endeavour to out-run a storm and navigate another that could cause
major damage to the boat and destroy our chances of breaking the record.
We need to navigate these two storm systems perfectly to have any chance
of succeeding. It’s going to be a very challenging six days."
Mike Sanderson, co-skipper of Virgin Money and TEAMORIGIN Team Director
commented: “As always it has been difficult finding a suitable weather
window in which to begin the record attempt. Forecasters are predicting
the mother of all storm systems, with two storms converging and winds of
up to 50 knots. Virgin Money is a very innovative, fast,
state-of-the-art yacht and given the right conditions we are confident
we could beat the current record we set on Mari Cha IV in 2003 and have
a great time with Sir Richard and his family.”
The yacht Virgin Money, which can reach speeds of up to 45 knots,
contains a crew of 25. The crew members will work in four hour shifts
during the challenge in an attempt to break the record. Richard, Holly,
Sam and the crew members will be posting regular blogs charting their
progress during the challenge as they attempt to sail into the record
books.
As well as containing two generations of the Branson family, the crew of
Virgin Money includes a number of America’s Cup sailors. Ben Ainslie,
TEAMORIGIN helmsman and quadruple Olympic medallist said: “I am very
excited to be taking part in such an amazing challenge with my
TEAMORIGIN crewmates and Sir Richard Branson. We have a fantastic boat
and a world-class team of America’s Cup sailors onboard. Although I have
competed in the Sydney-Hobart and the Middle Sea Race before, this will
be my first Atlantic crossing. I have seen the weather forecast and it
looks like it will be a pretty wild ride but I am confident we are up to
the challenge.”
Although the boat is power assisted, the crew aim to break the faster
non-power assisted record of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39
seconds, set by the Mari Cha IV in 2003, to take the title as undisputed
king of the Atlantic waves. ICAP Leopard currently holds the power
assisted Cross-Atlantic record, with a time of 7 days, 19 hours, 20
minutes and 49 seconds.
The yacht includes the latest in nautical design and technology and its
manufacture included input from race skipper Mike Sanderson, and Juan
Kouyoumdjian, principal designer at TEAMORIGIN, a team that includes
Olympic winners Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson.
With the race skipper of Mari Cha IV, Mike Sanderson at the helm, and
the Virgin Money yacht the pinnacle of nautical design, the race is on
to beat the record for the 2925 nautical mile voyage.
Sir Keith Mills, TEAMORIGIN Team Principal commented: “I am thrilled
that Virgin Money has set off on the transatlantic record attempt. We
have various TEAMORIGIN members onboard and this is a great challenge
for them to get their teeth into ahead of the next America’s Cup. We are
particularly pleased to welcome onboard Olympic Gold medallist Ben
Ainslie, TEAMORIGIN’s Skipper and Helmsman, for the record attempt. I
will be eagerly following the team’s progress.”
VIRGIN MONEY Transatlantic Challenge crew list: (25)
Mike Sanderson, NZ, Co-Skipper
Richard Branson, GBR, Co-Skipper
Alex Jackson, USA, Owner, Co-Skipper
Ben Ainslie, GBR, Watch captain, helmsman
Rob Greenhalgh, GBR, Helmsman
Bill Erkelens, USA, Project Manager, Runners
Holly Branson, GBR, Crew, boat medic
Sam Branson, GBR, Crew
Chris Coulson, USA, Crew
Cromwell Coulson, USA, Crew
Matthew Pritzker, USA, Crew
Erle Williams, NZ, Watch Captain
Stan Honey, USA, Navigator
Julien Cressant, FRA, Bow
Joey Allen, NZ, Bow
Andrew Henderson, AUS, Mid-bow, Systems
Nick Bice, AUS, Pit
Anthony Nossiter, AUS, Pit
Matthew Mason, NZ, Pit
Robbie Naismith, NZ, Trimmer
Bob Wylie, AUS, Trimmer
Mike Mottl, AUS, Trimmer
Philip Wehrheim, USA, Mainsheet assist
Chris Higgins, USA, Runners, assist boat captain
Adam Boome, GBR, Documentary Cameraman