Two sailboat skippers, one from San Francisco, set sail at about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time Sunday morning from Newport, R.I., with the goal of breaking the world sailing speed record, according to a spokesperson for the two.
The course will take the co-skippers Renaud Laplanche of San Francisco and Ryan Breymaier of Maryland to Bermuda aboard the 105 feet trimaran Lending Club 2.
Renaud Laplanche is co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Lending Club.
The late Steve Fossett set the record in 2000 on the same course with a time of 38 hours, 35 minutes and 53 seconds. Fossett's boat averaged about 16 knots during the trip, according to the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
Lending Club 2 is capable of speeds of more than 40 knots and could complete the course in 28 hours or less. Laplanche and Breymaier were south and west of New Jersey as of 6 a.m. Pacific time this morning, spokesperson Jan Harley said.
