Geronimo to attempt another circumnavigation

But this time it is Australia

From the 16 June the maxi trimaran Geronimo will attempt to set a record for a fully crewed maxi multihull to circumnavigate the 6,500 miles around Australia.

Geronimo will leave from Darling Harbour, Sydney with a crew of seven French and four Australian sailors. A number of the French crew members were recently part of the crew who raced on Geronimo in the Oryx Quest 2005, the first non stop round the world race to start and finish in the Middle East.

French sailing luminary skipper Olivier de Kersauson will lead the crew and with many sailing records to his name, is confident the Challenge can be achieved in less than a month. It is the first time that a maxi multihull will make an attempt for this record, a very complex and complicated voyage with tropical weather, trade winds, and a dangerous southern passage in the winter, since Peter Blake and Mike Quilter set the record time for the course aboard the 60ft trimaran Steinlager 1.

The Challenge circumnavigation attempt will require the boat to adhere to the World Sailing Speed Record Council’s new rule for the record course: ‘A skipper may nominate any starting/finishing point on the Australian mainland that is acceptable to the WSSRC. The vessel may sail either way around the continent as defined. The course shall enclose Sydney Heads, Great Barrier Reef, Cape York and the Thursday Islands group, Cobourg Peninsula, Melville and Bathurst Islands, North West Cape, Cape Leeuwin, South East Cape (Tasmania)’.

The Challenge record is ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) and International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) observer John Brooks.

Since withdrawing from the Oryx Quest due to structural problems, the boat has been refitted by Peter and Sari Ullrich's company BoatSpeed (who built Ellen MacArthur's B&Q Castorama and the new VO70 movistar).