After a flying start Saturday (29 Nov) the eight women of The Famous Project CIC, aboard the maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT, were slowed by an anticyclonic bubble, before regaining some pace Tuesday.
With an international crew of eight women sailors of seven different nationalities, they have thus set out on a 21,598 nm (40,000 km) voyage via the three great capes, the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn, in an attempt to set a new record and claim the Jules Verne Trophy.
The sailing record for the extreme round-the-world race for crewed multihulls, without stops or assistance, was set nine years ago by Francis Joyon and his five-man crew at 40 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes.
The first day saw the Bay of Biscay, shaken by the passage of a front, welcome IDEC SPORT with stormy weather, waves of 4 to 5 meters, and a northwesterly wind.
Sailing conditions changed dramatically overnight Sunday as they were caught up in an anticyclonic bubble coming from the south of the Azores resulting in a sudden and untimely slowdown in their rush southward.
Early Tuesday the strong north wind finally filled-in at 25 knots of wind and more in gusts, and they were back at racing pace, sailing towards the Canary Islands before setting a decisive course southward, downwind and at a good speed.
Dee Caffari said . . . “For those who are following our route, I think they must have seen our little wanderings. But everything is fine on board, and we will be able to pass north of Madeira, with a gybe later this afternoon. But yes, the night was frustrating, because we were waiting for the front to pass us, and it took a long time.”
At 17:00 hrs Tuesday 2 Dec they were sailing at 25.4 knots and had covered 1,102 nm. This put them 725 nm off the record pace of Francis Joyon in 2017.
The crew :
Alexia Barrier (46) – France – Captain
Dee Caffari (53) – Great Britain – First Officer
Annemieke Bes (47) – Netherlands
Rebecca “Bex” Gmuer (25) – Switzerland & New Zealand
Deborah “Debs” Blair (23) – Great Britain
Molly LaPointe (30) – American & Italian – Boat Captain
Tamara “Xiquita” Echegoyen (41) – Spain
Stacey Jackson (42) – Australia
