Designer(s) VPLP Launched 7 June 2006 | Length 32 m Beam 22 m | |
 | ||
Other names Groupama 3
Banque Populaire VII
Lending Club 2 Builder Multiplast (Vannes, France) Owner(s) Groupama Sailing Team (2006–2013)
Banque Populaire (2013–2014)
Renaud Laplanche (2015)
IDEC (2015–) Skippers Franck Cammas ( (2006–2013))
Armel Le Cléac'h (2013)
Loïck Peyron (2014)
Renaud Laplanche (2015)
Francis Joyon (2015) Notable victories 2010 Route du Rhum
2014 Route du Rhum | ||
IDEC 3 (formerly Groupama 3, Banque Populaire VII, Lending Club 2) is a racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting. She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and a previous holder of the Jules Verne Trophy. She was originally skippered by French yachtsman Franck Cammas, with a crew of ten and sponsored by the French insurance company Groupama.
Contents
Design
Groupama 3 was designed by VPLP and built by Multiplast in Vannes, France.
Career
Groupama 3 was launched on June 7, 2006. She was the transatlantic record holder between 2007 and 2009.
During a first attempt for the Jules Verne Trophy (circumnavigation of the world) in 2008, Groupama 3 capsized off the coast of New-Zealand.
She was repaired in France and went for another attempt in 2009. Damage to the port hull led to the attempt being called off after 11 days, and the boat limped into Cape Town for repairs. She then returned to France, and set off again on January 31, 2010.
On March 20, 2010, Groupama 3 became the fastest boat to sail around the world and set a record of 48 days, 7 hours 44 minutes and 52 seconds improving on Orange II's performance in 2005 by more than 2 days. She lost the record on January 7, 2012, to Banque Populaire V, a larger trimaran.
In 2010, she was retrofitted for single handed racing to take part of the transatlantic race Route du Rhum. In November 2010, Groupama 3 won the French single handed transatlantic race Route du Rhum (between Brittany and Guadeloupe), with Frank Cammas at the helm in 9 days and 14 hours, averaging 16.14 knots.
She was bought by French Bank Banque Populaire to take part of 2014 Route du Rhum, which she won with skipper Loïck Peyron. In November 2014, Banque Populaire VII won Route du Rhum again, with Loick Peyron in 7 days and 15 hours, beating the record by 2 hours and 10 minutes.
In 2015, French yachtsman Francis Joyon's sponsor IDEC announced that they had acquired the boat. Under this new ownership the boat was first leased for six months by Renaud Laplanche, the CEO of Lending Club. The boat was restored from her shortened mast single handed configuration to a full crew configuration and named Lending Club 2.Lending Club 2 set a new cross Channel record and a new Transpac record. In September 2015 the boat was handed over to the IDEC sport team who attempted to set a new circumnavigation record.