AIMING FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE

COULD THE 40-DAY AROUND THE WORLD RECORD FALL? HELEN FRETTER TALKS TO THIS YEAR’S JULES VERNE CHALLENGERS

- HELEN FRETTER

Forty days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds: that is the time that will be embedded in the psyche of crews challenging for the Jules Verne trophy this winter. The clock will mercilessly count down 983 hours as they attempt the near-impossible: to beat Francis Joyon’s blistering time set on Idec Sport three years ago; to become the first foiling trimarans to fly around the world; and maybe, just maybe, to break the incredible 40-day barrier.

The odds are stacked against them. Thomas Coville, skipper of Sodebo, says the chance of success is “only 20 to 25%”.

Charles Caudrelier, co-skipper of rival challenger Gitana 17, ranks his fortunes similarly. “I was surprised, I think the statistics are very optimistic, and in the statistics the boats never break, but it’s around a 30% chance to beat the record [based on] the polars.

“Which is quite good,” he adds sanguinely.

But how do you plan to attack something with such a gossamer thin margin, when you have at best a 1 in 4 chance of success?

MAN VERSUS MACHINE

There are two teams hoping to defy the improbable this winter, both going into standby mode as we went to press. Franck Cammas is looking to claim his second Jules Verne trophy with Gitana 17, the Edmond de Rothschild trimaran he co-skippers with Charles Caudrelier. Gitana will be sailing with a crew of just six.

The Verdier-designed Gitana was launched in 2017 and was originally part of the embryonic Ultime class, but the team wanted to incorporate more automation than Ultime rules permitted and this year stepped out of the class. For the Jules Verne, they have a flight control ‘servo loop’ that automatically trims some of the foils.