In search of the Jules Verne Trophy, the crews of the maxi-trimarans SVR-Lazartigue and Sodebo Ultim 3 announced on Friday that they were heading to the starting line off the coast of Ouessant (Finistère) to set off in the evening. Waiting for an ideal weather window for several weeks, the two teams decided to leave almost at the same time to try to beat Francis Joyon's around-the-world record (40 days 23 hours 30 minutes in 2017).
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“Super happy to be able to try it”
“In view of the conditions, the SVR-Lazartigue trimaran will try to take a good window this night on the Ouessant line,” announced François Gabart’s team on Friday morning, before leaving its home port in nearby Concarneau. from 2:00 p.m. “I'm really happy to be able to try it, we have a window that isn't easy, but we have a good boat, a great crew. We just have to sail well and have a little luck” , explained the Charentais just before setting sail.
François Gabart, holder of the solo round-the-world record (42 days 16 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds), took on board Tom Laperche, Amélie Grassi, Antoine Gautier, Émilien Lavigne and Pascal Bidégorry to pass, perhaps, under the symbolic bar of 40 days.
“They're going to try! On standby since November 9, the seven crew of Sodebo Ultim 3 are preparing to set sail” this evening, declared sailor Thomas Coville's team. Navigators Frédéric Denis, Léonard Legrand, Pierre Leboucher, Guillaume Pirouelle, Benjamin Schwartz and Nicolas Troussel accompany the 56-year-old sailor, who is setting off on his tenth circumnavigation.
“When we build a project like that, it’s to bring together people like them. I’m touched by the fact that they chose to be there (…) and the sine qua non condition for it to work “, it's just a laugh,” said Coville, who twice won the trophy as a teammate of Olivier de Kersauson in 1997 and Franck Cammas in 2010.
Imagined in the 1980s, the Jules-Verne Trophy was to reward the sailor who, imitating the hero Phileas Fogg, would circumnavigate the globe in less than 80 days. Bruno Peyron was the first to win it in 1993 in 79 days.
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