Final sprint for Los Angeles to Honolulu record

(May 15, 2017) – After their start on May 12 at 21:40:15 (UTC), Lloyd Thornburg and his crew aboard the MOD70 Phaedo^3 have been torching the Pacific Ocean in a bid to break the speed record from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii.

With approximately 450 nm to go at 21:15 (UTC), they must beat the current record of 03:18:00:09 (24.61 kt avg) set by 105-foot VPLP-designed trimaran Lending Club 2 back in July 2015.

On board for the record attempt is: Lloyd Thornburg, Brian Thompson, Justin Slattery, David Swete, Peter Cumming, Fletcher Kennedy and Henry Bomby.

“It’s been full on here, very hard to type anything since the start,” reports Thompson. “Now inside the last 500 miles, the record is still on if we keep the speed up. Its blowing 25 knots with more in the squalls and we are tearing downwind towards Honolulu.

“The first night was rough as expected with 30 knots plus on the beam and a big sea state. We had 3 reefs and the J3 which is our storm jib up most of the night. We lost some time there but the second and third day have been keeping up with a routing pace.

“Everyone pushing hard to get this record, any off watch time is spent making some freeze dried food and trying to sleep inside this rally car going full speed.”

Thompson is expecting to arrive into Hawaii in the early hours tomorrow.

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