{"id":4419,"date":"2021-01-09T20:11:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T19:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/?p=4419"},"modified":"2021-01-12T09:37:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T08:37:46","slug":"en-decollage-imminent-du-maxi-edmond-de-rothschild-pour-le-trophee-jules-verne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/en-decollage-imminent-du-maxi-edmond-de-rothschild-pour-le-trophee-jules-verne\/","title":{"rendered":"Take-off imminent for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in the Jules Verne Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pontoons of Lorient La Base were positively buzzing this afternoon. After a final scan of the weather charts and models, the Gitana Team took the decision this morning to switch to code green and set sail once more on the quest for the Jules Verne Trophy. Despite the wintry weather, there was a generous Breton sunshine this Saturday 9 January and the emotion was palpable, as reflected in the eyes of the six sailors just hours before they launch off on this attempt to secure the legendary round the world record under sail. The crowds were out in force to give them the send-off they deserve. After two months on standby, punctuated by a first attempt which was cut short after the boat collided with a UFO and several potential weather windows that ultimately didn\u2019t play out as the team would have liked, it\u2019s all system go now for the two skippers, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, and their four crew. Indeed, everyone is raring to go and fully committed to an express circumnavigation of the globe aboard the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, the first giant designed for open ocean flight. The challenge is an extraordinary one, because the bar has been set very high thanks to a reference time to beat of 40 days 23 hours and 30 minutes, which has been held since January 2017 by Francis Joyon and his crew on Idec Sport. It is between 23:00 UTC tonight and 03:00 UTC tomorrow that the men of Gitana Team are set to cross the start line, offshore of Ushant, and set in motion the stopwatch for their sprint around the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The art of a departure<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a final weather briefing on shore and via a remote link to Marcel van Triest, router and 7th man, the six sailors from the five-arrow racing stable headed down to the 32-metre trimaran shortly after 14:00 UTC, eager to set sail on the quest for the title of the fastest sailboat around the world. Choosing the day and time of departure in relation to weather forecasts deciphered and analysed with surgical precision is a rather special art, peculiar to the Jules Verne Trophy. With regards this little game, which involves selecting the best launch window, the crew of the\u00a0Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\u00a0have been impatient to get going, but have learned to put up with the delay. However, the moment has now come and with a clear weather sequence across the whole of the Atlantic, they\u2019re finally in the starting blocks and ready to set sail on this furious race against the clock. \u201cWe set off right at the start of standby, but we knew that the situation wasn\u2019t ideal. Since our return, we\u2019ve seen and observed six windows, which ultimately closed. As such, we\u2019re especially happy to be going for it now with a weather configuration which, though still a little uncertain in terms of the low-pressure systems in the southern hemisphere, is providing us with a great opportunity<\/em>\u201d,\u00a0explains Franck Cammas.<\/p>\n

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Less than 12 days to the Southern Ocean<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe set ourselves the goal of making the equator in a sub-5-day time and 11 and a half days to Cape Agulhas, at the gateway to the Indian Ocean. That\u2019s just what we have here, according to the routing at least. The situation isn\u2019t yet completely locked in for the South Atlantic but it\u2019s a good window, perhaps the best we\u2019ve had since the start of our standby<\/em>\u201d,\u00a0admits Charles Caudrelier, his far-off gaze already lost to the horizon. \u201cTo stand a chance of improving on the time set by Francis Joyon, who benefited from a dream weather sequence to traverse the Indian Ocean and half the Pacific on the leading edge of a low-pressure system with a constant speed of 35-38 knots, we believe we need to have a lead of around two days before we begin navigating our way around the Southern Ocean. For us, exploiting the versatility and speed potential of the\u00a0Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\u00a0thanks to her foils and appendages could make the difference in the transition phases during the descent and ascent of the Atlantic<\/em>\u201d,\u00a0he adds.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCircumnavigating the globe by adopting the fastest route possible over a free course, with zero constraints on a technical or human level, is quite a feat. In fact, though it may seem simple, it\u2019s actually extremely complex, particularly in terms of strategy<\/em>\u201d,\u00a0stresses Franck Cammas, who has already previously bagged this fabulous record and knows that it is increasingly hard to beat. His time came in 2010 when he had nine other crew members alongside him and looped the big loop in under 50 days (48d 7h and 44 mn). Eleven years later, his competitive spirit more honed than ever, he is returning to this planetary journey which, with its concept of exemplary simplicity and purity, ranks among the highest summits in sailing. \u201cThe Jules Verne Trophy has changed a great deal as a challenge over the years. Today, it\u2019s all about sailing eight days faster than ten years ago. With the Gitana Team, our timing is right for competing against the clock by taking on the challenge of flying offshore as much as possible so why not secure a historic and legendary sub-40-day time in the process, because it\u2019s a barrier that has to fall one day,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0adds this all-rounder, who was recently voted Sailor of the Decade 2010\/2020 by the French Sailing Federation (FFV). \u201cIt\u2019s a challenge we at Gitana Team have done a lot of preparation for and it\u2019s very exciting. However, it remains very difficult to achieve, so it\u2019s thrilling to be able to have a crack at it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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On the line in the early hours<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was at 15:00 UTC that Franck Cammas, Charles Caudrelier, Morgan Lagravi\u00e8re, Erwan Isra\u00ebl, Yann Riou and David Boileau, escorted by the members of the team and cheered on by their families and friends, slipped the lines holding the\u00a0Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\u00a0to the shore. Aboard the latest of the Gitanas, the six sailors that are a part of this planetary venture, hoisted the sails of the oceanic charger and set a course for the north-west tip of Brittany, which they should be quick to reach. They are due to cross the line offshore of Le Cr\u00e9ac\u2019h lighthouse on Ushant between 23:00 UTC this Saturday and 03:00 UTC on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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The members of the crew share their pre-departure impressions:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Erwan Isra\u00ebl:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m very content. We\u2019ve been waiting a long time to set sail again after our little escapade in November. We had to repair the boat and then the weather for the Jules Verne Trophy is always the same with potential windows which open and close back up. It\u2019s really satisfying to leave, especially given the fact that we have fabulous conditions for heading out to sea. We\u2019re very happy.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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Morgan Lagravi\u00e8re:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019ve been patiently awaiting this departure. These moments are never easy, but I\u2019m very happy to have this weather opportunity opening ahead of us and giving us a chance to live out our dream and our adventure. In a few hours\u2019 time we\u2019ll leave Ushant, set sail across the ocean and we\u2019re unlikely to see any land again for quite some time. It\u2019s no trivial matter and I\u2019m expecting it to be a remarkable journey. I\u2019m keen to make the most of it and to do what we\u2019ve been training for over a number of months with this record in mind and with the goal of improving on Idec Sport\u2019s time. We\u2019re sure to experience a whole range of \u00a0emotional states during the race, with some positive moments and other times that will be more difficult. After the emotion of the start, I\u2019m eagerly awaiting the first hours of sailing and the first watches as we make the switch to race mode and competitor mode. It\u2019s a process which enables you to make the most of every moment whilst pushing the envelope.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Boileau:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cRight now I feel a sense of release. We had quite a quick initial departure, then a return to the dock followed by around a fortnight of repairs to the boat and in the end a long wait with the constant uncertainty of whether or not we would be setting sail during the festive period. Today, we\u2019re happy to be able to take this window. The standby and the waiting are part and parcel of record attempts, it\u2019s the name of the game with these things!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pontoons of Lorient La Base were positively buzzing this afternoon. After a final scan of the weather charts and models, the Gitana Team took the decision this morning to switch to code green and set sail once more on the quest for the Jules Verne Trophy. Despite the wintry weather, there was a generous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,46,45,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trophee-jules-verne-20202021","category-gitana-team","category-charles-caudrelier","category-franck-cammas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4447,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/4447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tropheejulesverne.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}