After two and a half months of stand-by, the 40 meter trimaran Spindrift 2 is preparing to leave today for a new attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy. The crewed round the world sailing record has been held since 2017 by Francis Joyon, who completed the non-stop course in 40d 23h 30m.
“We have been on stand-by since November 5 and there has been no real opportunity to get around the world quickly… I have never experienced a winter like this!” comments skipper Yann Guichard. “We need to cross the equator in about five days, but we risk getting ahead of a front and having to sail to port, which is not very typical. But if we wait for this front to pass, we would then suffer at the hands of the Azores anticyclone.”
Guichard currently plans to cross the start line off Ushant between midnight and three o’clock (on January 16).
With this plan, the crew projects crossing the equator after five days and then hooking into a system in the South Atlantic, which could allow the team to cross the longitude at the Cape of Good Hope in less than twelve days. This is the system preferred by the land-based weather router, Jean-Yves Bernot, for the team to reach the Indian Ocean in good time.
