Jules Verne: The Road East

(January 26, 2019; Day 11) – After a fast descent, under gennaker, down through the Atlantic and managing to get through the Doldrums without too many hitches, the team on the 40 m trimaran Spindrift 2 finds themselves in the southern Atlantic and, unlike its northerly neighbor, it did not roll out the red carpet.

Skipper Yann Guichard and his 11 crew trying to break the Jules Verne Trophy record were faced with unstable winds, alternating squalls and light weather, which made it impossible to make the right turn to start heading towards the Cape of Good Hope.

But, after a morning of being shaken about a bit, they finally got past the anticyclone and this evening, little by little, they are heading east. Just before nightfall their first albatross came to say hello, which shows they are close to the roaring forties.

So with a calm night and tomorrow, with their first depression, they will be in the great south. The next step is to move to the tip of South Africa in just over two days. As of 20:00 UTC, the team has increased it’s lead over the record holder, Francis Joyon (IDEC Sport), to 355nm.

Team details – Tracker – Facebook

CREW OF SPINDRIFT 2:
Yann Guichard – skipper
Erwan Israël – navigator
Jacques Guichard – watch leader / helm
Christophe Espagnon – watch leader / helm
Xavier Revil – watch leader / helm
François Morvan – helm
Thierry Chabagny – helm
Sam Goodchild – helm / bow
Erwan Le Roux – helm
Duncan Späth – helm
Benjamin Schwartz – helm / bow
Jackson Bouttell – helm / bow
—
Jean-Yves Bernot – router

Background:
The Jules Verne Trophy is 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.

The 12-man crew of the 40 meter trimaran Spindrift 2 led by Yann Guichard began their attempt January 16 at 11h 47min 27sec UTC. To win the Jules Verne Trophy, they have to recross the line by February 26 at 11h 16m 57sec UTC to break the record of 40 days 23h 30m 30s, held since 2017 by Francis Joyon (FRA) and his five crew on the 31.5m VPLP-designed trimaran IDEC SPORT.

Source: Spindrift racing