On November 1st, 2021, Dona Bertarelli, Yann Guichard and their team began the standby for a fourth attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy round-the-world sailing record. Since this date, there has not been a suitable weather window for the crew of the maxi-trimaran Sails of Change to set sail with a realistic chance of beating the record. Yesterday, Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard announce the end of standby for Spindrift and their plans to renew the attempt later this year.
The primary challenge for the maxi-trimaran Sails of Change is to make a very fast passage from the island of Ushant to the equator (within the record time of 4 days 19 hours and 57 minutes set by Spindrift herself in 2019). The crew would then need to make the southern tip of Africa in under 12 days, to be level with the previous record. With this in mind, since November 1st, 2021, Yann Guichard (skipper), Benjamin Schwartz (navigator) and Jean-Yves Bernot (onshore router) have been analysing the weather in a bid to pinpoint the perfect configuration for linking these two sequences together. However, over the winter, the weather scenario has not once been favourable for starting the attempt.
Jean-Yves Bernot also points out that a late entry into the Deep South is not recommended: "The austral summer is gradually drawing to a close. Sailing conditions in this area are becoming increasingly complicated with the cold, the gales and very heavy seas. With too much bad weather comes the increased risk of suffering damage, and it is more difficult to maintain the high average speeds needed to break the record".
Within this context, Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard have decided to call off their team's standby for the Jules Verne Trophy record.
2021/2022 crew:
- Yann Guichard – Skipper
- Dona Bertarelli – On-board reporter
- Benjamin Schwartz – Navigator
- Jacques Guichard – Watch leader
- Xavier Revil – Watch leader
- Duncan Späth – Helm / trimmer
- Grégory Gendron – Helm / trimmer
- Julien Villion – Helm / trimmer
- Thierry Chabagny – Helm / trimmer
- Jackson Bouttell – Bowman
- Yann Jauvin – Bowman
- Jean-Yves Bernot – Onshore router
