The Famous Project CIC Jules Verne Trophy record attempt - Day 17
by Agence TB Press 16 Dec 2025 10:48 PST
17 December 2025
The Famous Project CIC Jules Verne Trophy record attempt - Day 17 © The Famous Project CIC
The eight sailors of The Famous Project CIC completed their journey across the vast Atlantic Ocean today, on this day Tuesday December 16th, at 17.00.
After 17 days, 2 hours and 20 mn of eventful sailing from Ushant, Alexia (Barrier), Dee (Caffari), Annemieke (Bes), Rebecca (Gmür Hornell), Deborah (Blair), Molly (LaPointe), Támara (Echegoyen), and Stacey (Jackson) crossed the longitude of the famous Cape of Good Hope, the first (before Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn) of the three major landmarks of this round-the-world race. They are now preparing to enter the formidable and feared Indian Ocean, with its 70,560,000 km" of liquid horizons (13.83% of the total surface area of the globe), stretching from Cape Agulhas (a short distance east of the Cape of Good Hope) to the south coast of Tasmania between South West Cape and South East Cape. An entrance punctuated by numerous "tolls" that the crew will have to pay, starting with negotiating the Agulhas Current, which runs against their course and forces them to take a long detour north to avoid the hellish confrontation of the wind and sea. This current generates powerful waves and flows of up to nearly 4 knots. Alexia and her crew, in the absence of favorable conditions for repairs, are deploying all their energy and imagination to navigate and make progress despite the handicap of a blocked mainsail hook.
Alexia Barrier at the Cape of Good Hope:
"This is a very powerful moment for us, it's our first cape on this round-the-world trip. It's a symbolic frontier, a frontier where we leave the Atlantic and prepare to enter the Indian Ocean. We know that beyond this cape, everything changes: the sea, the wind, the commitment. We look at it with great respect and we can't wait. Right now, the main challenge is the weather and sea conditions. We have to deal with strong winds, a cross swell of about 4 meters, and above all, the Agulhas Current. It's a powerful current, and when the wind blows against it, it creates really rough seas. In a multihull, this is undoubtedly the most demanding and stressful situation: being upwind with crosswinds and cross swells.
So we're working on several route options. The main idea is to avoid sailing with the current head-on and in too rough seas, perhaps going further north of the Agulhas Current.
There are things to keep an eye on in terms of the weather. That's obviously done with the routing team. We talk regularly, analyze, compare, and try to anticipate.
The goal is to enter the Indian Ocean in the best possible position. With our hook issue, we are limited. We have to consider what size mainsail to use. We need to know whether to use one reef, a high mainsail, or two reefs... we have to anticipate. But that doesn't stop us from moving forward and continuing to sail with a smile, of course. Even if, in the last few hours, it hasn't always been easy to have a clear idea about the choices we've made.
We have to continue the adventure. So, we've all had to give up a little on speed and our time ambitions. But that's it, I think we've passed that wave."
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