The two sailors announced that they were going to the starting line of the Jules Verne Trophy, the non-stop crewed world tour, for a flight in the evening.
While the first sailors of the Vendée Globe will double the first of the three capes of their world tour, the Cape of Good Hope, this Friday, other sailors are preparing to cast off for another challenge: the Jules trophy Verne. This non-stop tour of the planet is experienced as a crew and sets off from Ouessant where two boats will meet in the afternoon: François Gabart's SVR-Lazartigue and Thomas Coville's Sodebo Ultim 3.
Two crews at the helm of flying sea watches (32 meters by 23) who want to take advantage of a good weather window to start their record attempt and who will in fact find themselves in a duel around the globe, even if nothing is certain that they cross the starting line at exactly the same time. In this exercise against the clock, unlike races, everyone gives the starting signal whenever it is convenient, and even better, for them.
For this major challenge, which consists of beating Francis Joyon's reference time (40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds), already dating from 2017, François Gabart will start with six with Tom Laperche, Pascal Bidégorry (two former winners de la Solitaire du Figaro), Amélie Grassi, Emilien Lavigne and Antoine Gautier. Thomas Coville will be one more with Nicolas Troussel (another winner of the Solitaire), Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle and Benjamin Schwartz.
The two captains therefore dream of slipping below the legendary 40-day bar, a major feat during which they will catch up and overtake the Vendée Globe sailors who hope to do better than Armel Le Cléac'h's record 74 days (but being alone on board, on 18 meter monohulls and without choosing the departure window)…
