The Famous Project crew have completed on their first all-female ocean passage across the Atlantic on their MOD70 The Famous Project Limosa.

The seven-strong crew — which included Ireland’s own Joan Mulloy — arrived in Portimao, Portugal from Antigua on Wednesday (24 April) to complete one of their main objectives ahead of the Jules Verne Trophy next year.

This Transatlantic passage was co-skippered by project founder Alexia Barrier (FRA) and Dee Caffari (GBR) with a crew comprising Marie Riou (FRA), Deborah Blair (GBR), Annie Lush(GBR), Rebecca Gmuer (NZL), Joan Mulloy (IRL) and media reporter Georgia Schofield (NZL).

Ireland’s Pamela Lee is also involved with the team but did not complete this passage, dedicating herself more recently to the final selection phase of the UpWind by MerConcept project, aimed at building a 100-per-cent female crew on the Ocean Fifty UpWind skippered by Francesca Clapcich.

In part, the Famous Project’s Transat helped in the training and future selection of the 10-strong team which will sail the giant multihull Ultim IDEC SPORT non-stop around the world during the winter of 2025.

For former Vendée Globe solo ocean racer turned team leader Barrier, it was also another big step in her own personal transition from lone single-handed racing to skippering a strong team of women on a high-speed multihull for the first time.

“I discovered myself as a captain,” Barrier said. “Certainly, we have not pushed the boat to its limits. We didn’t look to make it hard for ourselves either. The main idea was to build cohesion and good understanding between us eight women who had very little sailing time together, even if we all knew each other individually.

“As far as I was concerned, it was important for me to prove to myself that I knew how to take on the role of captain and leader. It seems tome that on these two counts, our Transat is a success.

“There was loads of good fun and good humour all the way across. Everyone quickly found their place, and I was able to keep a close eye on the team and assess their reactions, both from a technical review point and on a human level. I appreciated their good humour and their ability to support each other. There was a real kindness onboard which seems essential to me for a successful round-the-world crew.”

The MOD70 The Famous Project Limosa that the all-female crew sailed to Portugal from Antigua | Credit: Joao Costa Ferreira

Supported ably by Caffari on the water, and on land by team manager Jonny Malbon, Barrier is giving herself several more months to continue her experiments and trials with other sailors.

“Our doors are open to everyone, whatever their level of excellence or experience,” she said. “We share the belief that everyone can dare and achieve their dreams. The fundamental criteria are an ability to adapt and live in a group in the long term.

“I think I will have to test around ten more girls before deciding on a shortlist of 14 people, for a final crew at the start of the Jules Verne Trophy of eight to 10 teammates. New races against the other MOD70s…are on the programme, in Palma de Mallorca this summer and in Greece with the Aegean 600. And on 31 May the IDEC SPORT trimaran will be launched, ready to go sailing.”

With no time to rest or enjoy a pastel de nata in Portimao, Barrier heads to Lorient for the start of the Transat CIC this weekend before going to Vannes to catch up on progress with the team’s Maxi trimaran at the Multiplast, yard ready to supervise the launching of the famous boat which still holds the Jules Verne Trophy.

Fresh from their third-place finish in the RORC Caribbean 600’s multihull class and multiple training laps around the island of Antigua itself, the seven-strong The Famous Project crew — which includes Ireland’s own Pamela Lee and Joan Mulloy — have now embarked on their first all-female ocean passage across the Atlantic, heading to Portimao, Portugal on their MOD70 The Famous Project Limosa.

As they build up towards their 2025 all-female challenge for the Jules Verne Trophy, when they will sail the record-holding Ultim IDEC Sport, this transatlantic passage is an important stage in training up the team, strengthening cohesion and building skills over an extended period on the flighty, fast 70-foot trimaran which needs to be sailed ‘on the edge’ to achieve the best performance.

The seven strong team comprises co-skippers Alexia Barrier (FRA) and Dee Caffari (GBR) along with Pamela Lee and Joan Mulloy (IRL), Annie Lush (GBR), Annemieke Bes (NED) and Deborah Blair (GBR). Media woman is Muriel Vandenbempt.

With a week of recovery, boat work and further training behind them, the debrief from the RORC Caribbean 600 is extremely positive.

The team for the 600-mile race, which passes 11 islands on a 12-leg figure-8 course this time included specialist coaches Jack Bouttell, Miles Seddon and Tom Dawson.

Their elapsed time of 1 day, 10 hours, 16 minutes and 46 seconds for the course was just two hours and two minutes behind Multihull class winner Argo. The Limosa team were in touch for much of the race but lost out towards the end.

The Famous Project Limosa finished third in the Multihull class in the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua last week | Credit: RORC/Alex Turnbull

Co-skipper Dee Caffari enthuses: “What a race! It was intense, it was awesome. In terms of a training platform for what the team wants to do it was perfect, it really was.

“There were lots of corners, lots of sail changes, every point of sail. There was constant action, always something happening. Every hour or couple of hours there was something. And to do all that and end up only a couple of hours behind the other two MOD70s is good. We could see them for most of the race and we know where we with different mistakes we made. But it was nice to finally be in the race with everybody again.”

In terms of the practical, hard-learning gains, Caffari says: “There is now a lot more confidence in the driving and the trimming, and a lot more trust in each other. Also just understanding how dynamic the trim on these boats is in order to just drive in a straight line, because you are literally on the edge all the time. And it costs you so much when you fall off that ‘edge’ and have to rebuild again.

“The boys did a really good job with the training leading up to it. I came off the helm having driven at a constant 30 knots for an hour and I would not have been able to do that without the training we had before the race. So we really moved forwards.”

With the big boat, the Ultim, due for a May launch, the race is on to get a core team up to speed and this transatlantic from the Caribbean to Portugal, followed by a training passage continuing on to their Mediterranean base in La Grande Motte, is an essential keystone in this training and learning block. Until now they have had the likes of Bouttell, Sidney Gavignet and others on board to fast track the learning. Now it is time to go do it themselves.

Figaro veteran Joan Mulloy is one of two Irish women on the all-female crew of The Famous Project

Caffari, who is running the boat while project captain Alexia Barrier takes responsibility for navigating, says: “For the first time we won’t have the safety net of the guys on the boat with all the experience, all the miles they have on the boat with us. So it will be good to be taking that step.

“And also we are moving into that mode now where Alexia and I, having that bit more experience, are bringing more people forwards with confidence, that will really build our confidence as well.”

The main objectives are seeing and sailing with different crew and upskilling them. Caffari says: “It is a little bit of having new people sail the boat with us, it is a little bit of ‘we can do this’ because until now it has been, ‘well they only sail with the guys on board’, and we don’t actually need them to sail the boat but it is good to have them to fast track the learning and keep up the intensity. Now we have to generate that ourselves.”

Caffari and the girls are not really relishing the weather, not least the return to chilly, windy Europe: “The weather looks a lot of upwind sailing. I think that is what it is and it does make it a little bit safer, we are not in that downwind danger zone very often. But finding the right sea state and keeping in the right modes will be the key to keeping the boat going.”

Splitting the roles into the defined responsibilities is also a ‘next step’ in the process.

“Alexia is learning to be a team player asshe is so used to being a solo sailor on her Vendée Globe set up and so I am here helping with that, I have been through that transition, keeping the communication flow going. Clear, concise communication is key, everyone using the same kind of language, especially as we have different nationalities onboard, especially when people are tired,” Caffari says.

Pamela Lee, an experienced transatlantic sailor, will lend her technical expertise to The Famous Project’s Jules Verne Trophy campaign

Along with Joan Mulloy, 35-year-old Pamela Lee is one of the two Irish sailors on board for the Transat. Lee has more than 10 transatlantics under her belt including one on a Ocean 50 multihull, as well as the most recent Transat Jacques Vabre race on a Class 40. She is taking time off from helping prepare the giant Ultim near her base in Lorient and aims to be one of the key technical expert ‘fixers’ on board for the Jules Verne.

Lee sailed the MOD70 during a training week in the Med last spring and is looking forwards to this new oceanic challenge, her first time — she realises — with an all-female crew.

After her first training days in Antigua, she notes: “Day to day everyone is so down to earth, just professional sailors doing a good job, it is amazing we are just all sailors who love sailing and love what we do.

“This feels like such a big opportunity and I just want to make the very most of it. I want to learn as much as I can and bring my best ‘sailorself’ to it every day. Don’t get me wrong, there is no competitive feeling there but there will be a team selection, sometime. But meantime for me it’s be focused, be humble and be myself.”

Lee adds: “And it is the first time I have sailed with an all-girls group. But the funny thing about that is the penny has just kind of dropped. I have not been thinking in those terms at all, we are all sailors doing what we love, it is so natural. But it just feels like going sailing, there is no crusade here, even if it will be the first time an all-female crew have sailed a MOD70 across the Atlantic.”