After 57 days, 21 hours, and 20 minutes of adventure, punctuated by countless race events and unpredictable pitfalls inherent in this immense journey across the vastness of the ocean, The Famous Project CIC sailed into history in women’s sports and sailing.
The Project is made up of a crew of eight female sailors, representing seven nationalities, all with very different sailing backgrounds and disciplines, ranging from Olympic, Offshore Racing and Record Breaking Attempts.
Where, 27 years ago, British sailor Tracy Edwards and her 10-strong female crew, pioneers in the field, failed off the coast of New Zealand, Alexia Barrier and her girls triumphed over all the difficulties thrown in their path, including damage and winter storms that tested their resilience and determination right up to the very last mile. When they crossed the starting line of the Jules Verne Trophy near Ushant on November 28, the sailors of The Famous Project CIC: Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen, and Stacey Jackson, were aware of the colossal scale of the record set in 2017 with the same IDEC Sport maxi trimaran by Francis Joyon and his crew, 40 days and 23 hours, and were all eager to mark their own names in history.
The Atlantic as a warm-up
“The watchword: don’t break anything!” As soon as she crossed the starting line of her round-the-world race, Alexia announced her intention to sail cautiously and rationally, giving her highly international crew (seven nationalities) the opportunity to find their rhythm and put into practice, this time in a race, the thousand and one manoeuvres they had repeated in training.
In strong northwesterly winds and rough seas, it was difficult to find the right balance without risking the dreaded breakage that has caused so many abandonments in the long history of the Jules Verne Trophy. Abandonment is a word that is forbidden aboard the Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT, which emerged unscathed from the first difficulties of its journey.
Repeated gybes in the Portuguese trade winds and a successful transition to the north-easterly winds, which were particularly irregular this year and dotted with wind holes, allowed the sailors to settle calmly and seriously into their routine, punctuated by the watch schedules that would become their daily life for the next eight weeks.
On December 7, Alexia and her girls crossed the equator after eight days and three hours of controlled sailing, despite a particularly mean doldrums that had been growing stronger as the Maxi Trimaran passed through.
Picking up the pace
The tropics, the proximity of Brazil, the south-easterly trade winds, combined with high morale, saw the female crew of the Famous Project CIC grow bolder and more confident as the miles passed, accumulating good days with more than 500 miles covered, close to the heart of the Saint Helena High.
This was an efficient route to the Cape of Good Hope, which they crossed on their 17th day of racing, after covering nearly 8,000 miles at an average speed of over 19 knots.
The only fly in the ointment was the stuck mainsail hook. This is a set of parts, part of which is attached to the mainsail track and the other to the headboard. This assembly connects the mast to the sail. A custom titanium part attached to the headboard remained stubbornly stuck, forcing the crew of The Famous Project CIC to dismantle it every time they took in or released a reef, and therefore to lower the entire sail to access this part. This was the first obstacle that Alexia and her crew managed to overcome through sheer determination.
To the rhythm of the Indian Ocean
On December 16, as they slipped beneath the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of the African continent, the sailors of The Famous Project CIC entered one of the monuments of a round-the-world sailing trip, the Indian Ocean. And to start off this hearty main course, they were served the Agulhas Current piping hot, perhaps to give them a taste of the much-feared “Great South.”
The Agulhas Current, flowing straight down from the shores of Madagascar, accelerates under Africa, reaching speeds of up to 3 knots in places.
Facing the west wind, it stirred up a very rough sea on the Maxi trimaran’s route, which severely shook the crew.
Alexia, Dee, Annemieke, Rebecca, Deborah, Molly, Támara, and Stacey cleverly found the right balance between steering and autopilot, choosing the headsails combined with their mainsail, which was still restricted by the hook blockage, and the rhythm of life on board.
They made good speed out of this unfriendly zone and headed a little further south with each mile, on an efficient course towards the Kerguelen Islands.
They also entered into phase with the Indian Ocean’s steamrollers, where violent centered depressions gallop with beautiful regularity, and for several years now (see the Last Vendée Globe), far to the north, forcing them to take a very northern route as the sailors sought the best angle and wind strength in the northern part of the depressions.
The maxi trimaran shook itself off, lengthened its stride, and the girls of The Famous Project CIC could look towards the next big marker of their round-the-world trip, Cape Leeuwin at the western tip of Australia, which they hoped to see on Christmas Eve, a nice gift for the whole crew and especially for the Australian on board, Stacey Jackson.
A fishing net for Christmas!
It was at the time, due to the time difference, when Australians were opening their Christmas presents that the sailors of the all-female The Famous Project CIC crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin at the southwestern tip of the Australian continent.
The crew thus checked off the second of three major milestones in their round-the-world voyage, after the Cape of Good Hope on December 16 and before Cape Horn, after 25 days of sailing since their departure from Ushant.
This was a highly symbolic crossing, especially for the newcomers on board, and was received and appreciated as a real gift at the end of a beautiful and fast week in the Indian Ocean. The IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran demonstrated the full extent of its astonishing seafaring qualities in rough seas and strong northwesterly winds, allowing Alexia and her “girls” to cover nearly 700 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of over 27 knots.
This cavalcade was briefly interrupted that morning by a huge fishing net and its floats caught in the starboard foil of the large multihull.
We went from 30 knots to 5 knots!” said Alexia. “We put the boat in reverse and were able to remove the large net, but the foil remained stuck in the down position for a while.”
Unbeknownst at the time of the incident, the foil’s limitation would force the crew to permanently sail without this important appendage a few days later.
A very physical Pacific
On January 2, the sailors of The Famous Project CIC left Point Nemo, the “maritime pole of inaccessibility,” on their port side. This geographical position, located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, marks the point furthest from any land.
They also passed the precise location where, 27 years ago, the first all-female crew, led by British sailor Tracy Edwards, saw their dreams of a historic round-the-world voyage collapse along with the mast of their catamaran Royal & Sun Alliance. At that precise moment in their journey, the girls of The Famous Project CIC became the only sailors to have come so far in a Jules Verne Trophy race.
Cape Horn as a reward
On Tuesday, January 6, at 3:14 p.m. (French time), The Famous Project CIC’s Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT rounded Cape Horn.
It was a historic moment in the long and illustrious history of ocean racing, as never before had an all-female crew rounded the famous Chilean rock in a non-stop multihull race. It took the sailors just under 11 days to reach Cape Horn from Leeuwin, a distance of 3,800 miles. It was a fast crossing, marked by 48 hours of very heavy weather, with hellish seas and waves over 8 meters high, and winds gusting to over 50 knots.
The crew, now perfectly attuned to the maneuvers and handling of the maxi trimaran, showed strength, cohesion, and composure, constantly confronted with a stubborn mainsail hook that forced them to flee in order to take in or release a reef.
It was a trans-Pacific crossing marked by consistency, with the maxi trimaran covering more than 550 miles a day with remarkable regularity, on a route that was certainly very northern, but efficient and rational, skirting the violent depressions of the southern ocean.
Subjected to fatigue, cold, and snow, but always focused on adjustments, anticipation, and the refined piloting of the maxi trimaran, the eight sailors of The Famous Project CIC affirmed the solidarity and constant kindness that have been the hallmarks of their round-the-world voyage. On their 38th day of sailing and with nearly 16,000 miles covered (25,700 km), the girls of The Famous Project CIC were able to begin the final feat of their journey: the crossing of the immense Atlantic.
Standing upright!
The eight sailors of The Famous Project CIC had been sailing with their heads up since January 15. They crossed the equator again on their 48th day at sea. They could legitimately congratulate themselves on their fast and efficient sailing in the South Atlantic.
Having passed Cape Horn in the middle of the afternoon on January 6, it took them only 9 days, 5 hours, and 38 minutes to reach the equator, one of the best performances ever on this route. True to its reputation, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the sinister doldrums, proved mischievous in slowing down and even holding back the girls of The Famous Project CIC. Storm clouds multiplied on the route of the Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT as it attempted to gain ground to the north.
With the entry into the trade winds came the dreaded moment of reducing the sail area, and the stubborn hook on the mainsail was once again causing problems, forcing Alexia and her girls to undertake another painful dismantling and reassembly operation, which also penalised their speed. And as trouble always comes in packs, it was while performing this delicate reefing manoeuvre that the girls noticed a tear in the leech of the mainsail. A sail workshop was set up, while numerous banks of sargassum seaweed slowed the boat’s progress.
A tense finale
“If it were easy, everyone would do it!” This quip from British sailor Dee Caffari, in response to the first tear in the mainsail of the Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT, took on its full terrible meaning a good thousand miles from the finish line.
The mainsail, which had already torn once at the second reef, literally exploded after 55 days at sea.
Without its starboard foil, the maxi trimaran lost the use of its autopilots.
And yet, faced with these mounting setbacks, the eight women on board gritted their teeth and stubbornly insisted on completing the race at all costs, achieving a titanic feat that no female crew had ever accomplished before: a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in a maxi multihull.
It was the dream of Alexia from France, Dee and Deborah from Britain, Annemieke from the Netherlands, Rebecca from Switzerland and New Zealand, Molly from Italy and the US, Tamara from Spain, and Stacey from Australia, was now threatened by a huge winter storm ironically named… Ingrid.
Under single mast and, at the slightest drop in wind, with the help of the J3, stubborn as hell, Alexia and the girls of The Famous Project CIC lived only to the rhythm of their three-hour shifts on deck.
