Two 100ft foiling trimarans crossed the start line off Brest, western France this morning, in a tantalising head-to-head battle for the Jules Verne Trophy, the round-the-world, non-stop fully crewed recordPhoto: Eloi Stichelbaut \/ PolaRYSE \/ GitanaThe time to beat is 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds, set in 2017 by Jules Verne Trophy holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport.
\nFirst to announce their departure was Thomas Coville and his crew on Sodebo. Sodebo is the newest of the Ultime foiling trimarans and will be sailing with a crew of eight, including Coville, Fran\u00e7ois Duguet, Sam Goodchild, Corentin Horeau, Martin Keruzor\u00e9, Fran\u00e7ois Morvan, Thomas Rouxel and Matthieu Vandame.
\nSodebo crossed the start line, which lies between the Cr\u00e9ac\u2019h lighthouse (Ouessant) and the Lizard in south-west England, at 0255 (CET). To claim the Jules Verne Trophy, they must recross the line before Tuesday 5 January at 0225.
\nSodebo crossed the start line today at 0255. Photo: facebook.com\/SodeboVoile \/ Vincent Curutchet
\nDespite having initially changed their standby mode to indicate they wouldn\u2019t depart until Thursday, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, co-skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\/Gitana 17, swiftly announced that they too would be setting off in the early hours of Wednesday 25 November.
\nGitana crossed the line at 0336 local time with a crew of six: Franck Cammas, Charles Caudrelier, Erwan Isra\u00ebl, Yann Riou, Morgan Lagravi\u00e8re and David Boileau. Their target arrival time to win the Jules Verne Trophy is 0255 on 5 January.
\n\u201cWe thought that the [weather] models would remain fairly stable with a view to taking a start on Thursday morning, but we see that between the American files and the European files, that continues to diverge. The start we thought we would take on Thursday morning is ultimately no better than the one we will take tonight. Waiting involves a risk that we do not want to take because the times announced on the North Atlantic would then be less good,\u201d explained Cammas as they prepared to set off.
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIDEC Sport sailed under the QE2 bridge at 0737 GMT to set a new Hong Kong to London record of\u2026<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn Tuesday 5 November four giant trimarans \u2013 Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Macif, Sodebo and Actual Leader, and their double-handed\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that our direct competitor set off on the water changes the situation a bit, but it is above all the weather that dictates our departure. We do not rush, it\u2019s a window that we looked at, it is not great, and uncertainties persist. But there are fewer and fewer reasons not to take it. The models still diverge for the South Atlantic, but it would be a shame to let the opportunity pass. We are going and we will see if it materialises.\u201d
\nClaiming the Jules Verne Trophy is a superhuman challenge
\nThe speeds these trimarans can now reach are extraordinary. \u201cToday our big problem is cavitation, because we reach some very high speeds, 45 or 46 knots,\u201d Gitana co-skipper Caudrelier told Yachting World (see our exclusive feature on the Jules Verne Trophy challengers in the December 2020 issue, which is out now).
\n\u201cWe have managed to push the maximum speed before cavitation from around 40-42 knots to 44-45 knots, so that\u2019s a big step. The boat has never been so fast.\u201d
\nSustained flight is now possible at levels that surpassing even Sodebo\u2019s record-breaking skipper Thomas Coville\u2019s expectations.
\n\u201cLast [month] we were delivering the boat for sponsor sailing in Vend\u00e9e. For three hours, we were in rough seas. It was 4 or 5m on the offside and we were sailing between 35-45 knots of boat speed all the time. I have to admit that I would not have even imagined that one year ago.\u201d
\nSo over the 26,000-odd miles of their Jules Verne Trophy circumnavigation, how much could potentially be sailed in foiling mode? \u201cAbout a year ago, I would have told you 20%. Now, I would say it could be more like 80%,\u201d says Coville, \u201cAnd we are just at the beginning. Every day we go sailing, we\u2019re learning more. But I\u2019m pretty sure that we are going to fly for more than 50%.\u201d
\nCaudrelier agrees: \u201cThere will be strong winds where we will not really fly, but we will be in skimming mode, when the waves are too big. But still, 50 to 60% around the world in some sort of flight mode is space travel.\u201d
\nA huge factor in each Jules Verne Trophy challenger\u2019s chances is down to their weather routing, directed by a commander on shore.
\nSodebo\u2019s weather router is Jean Luc Nelias, Coville\u2019s right hand man for many years, who also directed him to his 2016 solo around the world record. Gitana has the legendary Marcel van Triest, who has worked with Caudrelier and Cammas closely in the past on their Dongfeng and Groupama Volvo Ocean Race campaigns. He also routed both Lo\u00efck Peyron on Banque Populaire and current record holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport to Jules Verne wins.
\nBefore the Jules Verne Trophy teams set off, we spoke to Marcel van Triest about the challenge ahead.
\nThe first decision is to choose the best weather window in which to leave Ushant. Then with the benchmark time to the Cape of Good Hope less than 12 days, there is a balancing act between not only finding the optimal forecast for the Atlantic, but also setting up the boat with the best chances of hooking into a favourable low pressure system roaring eastwards around the Southern Oceans.
\n\u201cI try to look at the situation from the start line in Ushant to more or less the point of entry to the Indian Ocean, so basically south of Cape Town,\u201d explains van Triest.
\nMaxi Edmond de Rothschild\/Gitana 17 during testing off Brest. Photo: PolaRYSE
\n\u201cThen you try to judge what happens after Cape Town, because you can have a situation with a high pressure ridge off South Africa and ice to the south, which makes the entry into the Indian Ocean really narrow. To get around it, if you see a situation that is a 600-mile wide entry into the Indian Ocean, you\u2019re willing to arrive at Cape Town a little bit slower, but it will be easier to get into the westerlies.
\n\u201cAlso, these boats are now so quick that you need a Southern Ocean weather system that is quick enough that they can stay in the same system the whole time. So you\u2019re going around at more or less at the speed that the low is.\u201d Idec Sport, van Triest says, rode a single system from Madagascar almost to New Zealand.
\nThe Atlantic may also be where the foilers make the biggest gains on the record. \u201cWhere we have most improved the speed of the boat is upwind reaching \u2013 like the parts of the Doldrums where you are upwind and slowly the wind is lifting. This is where we have the biggest difference of speed compared to boats like Idec,\u201d says Caudrelier.
\n\u201cTheir upwind speed was between 19-21, now we can achieve between 25-30 depending on the sea state.\u201d
\nThe fact that the two have set off so close to each other is mouth-watering for tracker addicts, and was cautiously welcomed by the Jules Verne Trophy skippers.
\n\u201cIt could be not only a record, but it could be a proper race around the world, a real match. And this is even more exciting than the record itself. But at the end this is about a record, so if we are together at the start and we push the boats too much\u2026 the goal is to finish, and that is not easy,\u201d Franck Cammas told us.
\nYou can follow the teams\u2019 trackers at at gitana-team.com and tropheejulesverne.sodebo.com
\nRead our full analysis of the Jules Verne Trophy challenge and the chances of the new foiling trimarans in the December 2020 issue of Yachting World, which is out now.
\nThe post Jules Verne Trophy: Head-to-head foiling battle begins for round the world record appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two 100ft foiling trimarans crossed the start line off Brest, western France this morning, in a tantalising head-to-head battle for the Jules Verne Trophy, the round-the-world, non-stop fully crewed recordPhoto: Eloi Stichelbaut \/ PolaRYSE \/ GitanaThe time to beat is … <\/p>\n