An all-female crew has completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the planet by women in a maxi multihull. The crew of The Famous Project CIC crossed the Jules Verne Trophy finish off Ushant on January 26, completing the voyage in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes. Skipper Alexia Barrier led an eight-strong international crew aboard the trimaran Forever First.
The team set out on November 28, fully aware of the benchmark time set by IDEC Sport in 2017 but focused on making history rather than breaking records. “Our aim was to finish,” Barrier said. “To show it could be done.”
The voyage was marked by storms, equipment damage and long periods of manual sailing after technical failures. A jammed mainsail hook plagued the boat from the South Atlantic onwards, forcing repeated full sail drops during reefing.
In the Indian Ocean, the crew faced heavy seas in the Agulhas Current before accelerating east towards Australia. Christmas Day brought both celebration and crisis when a fishing net fouled the starboard foil, forcing the boat to sail without it for the remainder of the race.
The crew rounded Cape Horn on January 6, becoming the first all-female team to do so in a non-stop multihull circumnavigation. The Pacific crossing included waves over eight metres and winds exceeding 50 knots.
In the Atlantic, further sail damage and the loss of autopilot systems turned the final miles into a physical and mental test. British sailor Dee Caffari summed it up simply: “If it were easy, everyone would do it.”
The finish off Brittany marked the fulfilment of a long-held ambition and a landmark moment in offshore sailing.
