The fight for the Jules Verne Cup has begun!

Remember Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days? His hero Phileas Fogh was given a condition to travel around the world in 80 days.

In a race around the world inspired by this novel  Jules Verne Trophy for the Cup (Trophy) can be fought by yachts of any type, type, crew. The main condition is to cover the distance without any outside help in a time shorter than the winning yacht of the previous race.

At the moment, the Jules Verne Cup since 2017. owned by François Jouillon (IDEC Sport yacht) and has a record time of 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

In the 2020 Jules Verne Trophy, two large 100-foot trimaranes entered the battle for the Trophy.

The first to announce his participation in the race was Thomas Coville in a Sodebo (the newest Ultime racing trimaran) with a team of seven: François Duguet, Thomas Roussel, Sam Goodchild, François Morvan, Martin Kerusore, Corentin Oro and Mathieu Vandam.

Sodebo crossed the starting line, a line between Creac (Ouessant Island, France) and Lizard (a lighthouse in the southwest of England) at 02:55 CET.

To qualify for the Jules Verne Trophy, the Sodebo team must re-cross the same conditional line (now the finish line) no later than 02:25 am on 5 January 2021 (Tuesday).

The second participant of the Jules Verne Trophy is the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild trimaran "Gitana 17" under the direction of two mates Frank Cammas and Charles Codrellier. In addition to them, there are four more crew members on board: Ervan Israel, Ian Rio, Morgan Lagraviere and David Boileau.

Frank Cammas and Charles Codrellier originally planned to start on Thursday rather than Wednesday, but at the last moment announced their intention to hit the road on Wednesday morning (November 25). The weather conditions were the factor due to which the captains wanted to postpone the release date.

Gitana crossed the start line at 03:36 local time. To receive the Jules Verne Cup, her crew must finish on January 5 at 02:55.

Fighting for the Jules Verne Trophy will require superhuman efforts from the crews.

Trimarans move at great speeds.

One of the two Gitana skippers Codrellier told Yachting World: “Today our big problem is cavitation because we are reaching very high speeds of 45-46 knots. We managed to increase the top speed to cavitation from 40-42 knots to 44-45 knots, so this is a big step. The boat has never been so fast. "

Sustainable flight is now possible at levels that exceed the expectations of even record-breaking Sodebo captain Thomas Kovil.

“Last month we delivered a boat for a sponsored sailing in Vendée. For three hours, moving in the stormy sea at 4-5 meters offside, we always walked at a speed of 35-45 knots. I have to admit that a year ago I would not even have thought about it. "

To the question "how much of the 26,000 plus miles of cruise your catamarans will be able to pass in foiling mode?" competing captains responded as follows.

Coville: “A year ago, to this question, I would have answered that no more than 20%. Today that figure would rise to 80%. Every sailing day teaches us something. And I am sure that in this mode we will go more than 50% paths ”.

Codrellier: “The wind will be strong. Even if we do not really fly, we will definitely go in skimming mode, since the waves will be too large. And yet for 50-60% people in the world, such speeds are space travel. "

Much of the chances of every Jules Verne Cup contender come down to weather routing, managed by a member of their team ashore.

Sodebo Weather Router - Jean-Luc Nelias, with whom Coville set the world record in 2016, and who is his right hand man.

Gitana also has an ingenious weather router - Marcel van Trieste, who has previously worked closely with Caudrellier and Cammas in various prestigious races. He also accompanied Loic Peyron to the Banque Populaire in the Jules Verne Trophy and current record holder Francis Joyon to Idec Sport.

Before the start of the current Jules Verne Trophy, we asked Marcel van Trieste what the task of the participants was.

He replied that, first of all, it was necessary to find a favorable weather exit window from Ouessant. Then, when the control time to the Cape of Good Hope is less than 12 days, it is necessary to balance not only the search for the optimal forecast for the Atlantic, but also the tuning of the boat with the greatest chance of connecting to the favorable low pressure system roaring east around the Southern Ocean.

“I am trying to predict the situation from the start line at Ouessan and approximately to the entrance to the Indian Ocean, that is, south of Cape Town,” explains Marcel van Trieste. -

“After that, you try to guess what will happen after Cape Town, because you might have a high pressure ridge situation off the coast of South Africa and ice in the south, which makes the entrance to the Indian Ocean really narrow.

To avoid this, after seeing the 600 miles wide entrance to the Indian Ocean, you are prepared to arrive in Cape Town a little more slowly, but it will be easier for you to get caught in the westerly winds.

And with these boats now so fast, you need a Southern Ocean weather system fast enough so that they can stay in the same system all the time. This means that you are moving at about the same speed as the minimum. "

According to van Trieste, Idec Sport went on the same system from Madagascar to almost New Zealand.

One cannot discount the fact that the Atlantic is the place where foilers can go down in history with record results.

“The boat reaches the highest speeds when moving against the wind. For example, in those parts of Doldrum where you are walking against the wind that slowly rises. At this point we have a lot more speed than boats like Idec, ”says Codrellier. "Their speed against the wind was 19-21, and we can reach 25-30, depending on the state of the sea."

The fact that the two boats set off to race one after the other is very appetizing for trekkers, but the Jules Verne Trophy skippers take it with caution.

“It can be not only a record, but also a real round-the-world race, a real match. And this is even more exciting than the record itself. But, nevertheless, this is a record. And if we started together and drive our boats forward, our goal is to finish. It’s not easy, ”said Frank Kammas.

14.12.2020