Tuesday, December 9 – The Southern Test
The Famous Project CIC’s Maxi Trimaran is making good progress since crossing the equator off Salvador de Bahia, sailing in a gentle southeasterly trade wind of around 12 knots. This is enough to allow Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen, and Stacey Jackson to sail twice as fast as the wind and begin to rack up days of more than 500 miles per 24 hours.
All minds are already focused on the big challenge of the weekend, the highly strategic transition between the current trade wind regime, crosswind, with the disturbed systems of the South Atlantic and its powerful portative flows.
The Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT will gradually round its course to bypass the Saint Helena High and rush into its southern edge where these powerful winds rage, the highway to South Africa.
The trick will be to position the giant multihull between high and low pressure systems, at a favorable angle, where the sea is not yet too rough. The entire crew is preparing for this, advised from shore by weather specialist Christian Dumard, who is in regular contact with Alexia and Dee.
Alexia Barrier’s words: “The south will require a great deal of humility and finesse from us.”
“The North Atlantic was an invigorating warm-up, a real learning curve with the sea, teaching us how to handle this powerful and demanding boat. The first week allowed us to get into the race, understand the language of the boat, and refine our reflexes. I felt like the trimaran was testing us, observing us, and wondering if it could trust us.
We are now starting to get a good feel for the boat, we can gauge its inertia and its ability to accelerate. We are not trying to reach 100% of its potential, but rather to master all the components of this navigation 100%. This boat is sound and very forgiving.
There is good fatigue management within the group. Each girl has found her place. There is a lot of solidarity. Some of the girls surprise me with their calmness in all circumstances, others with their technical devotion, like Tamara (Echegoyen), who is constantly looking for the right settings and doesn’t give up an inch. She has a perfect feel for the boat. The girls are asserting themselves. This group is beautiful to see because of the diversity of its talents, which is our strength.
I looked at the reference times at the equator. We clearly don’t have the score compared to IDEC SPORT, Francis Joyon, Banque Populaire, or Spindrift. But there are also great sailors on this list, such as Kersauzon, the Peyron brothers, Steve Fossett, and Peter Blake, and we are on that list. We stood on the shoulders of giants to write our story. The equator marks the first chapter of our adventure.
The south will require a great deal of humility and finesse on our part. The north got us started, the equator got us into the game, and the south will put us to the test. We’re not going to fight the south, we’re going to work with it.
Article by The Famous Project CIC
Follow the adventure on IDEC SPORT social media and via the comprehensive map =>> https://trimaran-idec.geovoile.com/julesverne/2025/viewer/
