Spindrift 2: Three is a Crowd

(December 15, 2015; Day 24) – At daybreak on the deck of the 40m maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2, the crew spotted, in the distance, the silhouette of the trimaran IDEC Sport. After travelling half the way around the world since leaving Ushant on November 22, racing nearly 30,000km across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the two trimarans on a quest for the Jules Verne Trophy, found themselves side by side, past New Zealand, in the Pacific Ocean.

The Spindrift 2 crew are competitors and they like this kind of race for the record. “The boats are close in performance, and there are not many possible weather options for Cape Horn,” Yann Guichard said. “It’s not impossible that our paths cross again in the coming days.”

The unlikely scenario only adds more spice to the already extraordinary adventure of a crewed round-the-world record attempt. To a virtual competition against the record time set by Banque Populaire V, Spindrift 2’s crew have added close-quarter sailing since the antipodes. For the route to Cape Horn, the southern option was not selected. Dona Bertarelli and Guichard’s team are currently riding along a depression, to the north.

As of 2100 UTC
Distance to finish: 10207.9
Distance for 24 hours: 674.1 nm
Distance ahead of record: -332.12 nm

Source: Spindrift 2

Team website – Tracker – Facebook

Background: Spindrift 2 has entered to claim the Jules Verne Trophy, a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew, starting and finishing between the Le Créac’h Lighthouse off the tip of Brittany and the Lizard Point in Cornwall.

Yann Guichard (FRA), skippering the 40 VPLP-designed trimaran, crossed the start line on November 22 at 04:01:58 GMT, and his 14-man team must return by 17:43:51 UTC on January 6, 2016 to beat the current record set January 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his crew on Banque Populaire 5 of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds.

Spindrift 2 was originally launched in 2008 as Banque Populaire 5.

MORE: Also starting on November 22 (at 02:02:22 GMT) for an attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy was Francis Joyon (FRA), skippering the 31.5m VPLP-designed trimaran IDEC SPORT. The 6-person team must return by 15:44:15 GMT on January 6, 2016 to beat the record. Here’s a tracker showing both teams: http://volodiaja.net/Tracking/

SPINDRIFT 2 CREW:
Yann Guichard, skipper
Dona Bertarelli, helmsman-trimmer
Sébastien Audigane, helmsman-trimmer
Antoine Carraz, helmsman-trimmer
Thierry Duprey du Vorsent, helmsman-trimmer
Christophe Espagnon, helmsman-bowman
Jacques Guichard, helmsman-trimmer
Erwan Israël, navigator
Loïc Le Mignon, helmsman-trimmer
Sébastien Marsset, bowman
François Morvan, helmsman-trimmer
Xavier Revil, helmsman-trimmer
Yann Riou, media reporter
Thomas Rouxel, helmsman-bowman
Jean-Yves Bernot, onshore router