Billionaire Dona Bertarelli Attempting Around The World Sailing Record

Right now, Swiss billionaire Dona Bertarelli is making an attempt to beat the record and take home the Jules Verne Trophy along with partner Yann Guichard. And as of this writing they’re about 1700 nautical miles ahead of schedule, about three and a half weeks into their voyage around the world. If she can circumnavigate the entire globe in under 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds, she’ll be the new holder of the Jules Verne Trophy. That record was established back in 2012 by Loick Peyron, who probably feels some kind of way about having his trophy in jeopardy after such a short span of time. Interestingly, the craft they’re using to make this journey around the world is the former and renamed Banque Populaire V, the boat piloted by Peyron to set that record. Clearly, when you’re a billionaire you can afford the very best equipment for whatever it is you choose to do. And it was as close to an impulse buy as such a thing could be, according to Bertarelli as quoted in a recent CNN story about her record attempt: Bertarelli, in addition to being one of the most successful businesswomen in Europe with a net worth of around $4.5 billion, is also an experienced sailor, but she only got into off-shore sailing recently in an effort to find sailing projects she could embark on along with Guichard (he being an experienced off-shore sailor). If they make it, they will be joining a fraternity of eight sailing crews in history to have set the world record, with only 15 others having even attempted to win the Jules Verne Trophy. And with about three weeks left to go before the record is lost, they have plenty of reason to be optimistic.