Tough luck for female sailors on "Idec Sport": their mainsail is jammed after the second reef of the main halyard lock broke. Travelling slightly beyond the 35th parallel south in the South Atlantic, skipper Alexia Barrier and her all-female crew have had to consider their options and make a decision over the weekend since the break on Friday.
Jules Verne Trophy: not ready to give up
Cape Town lies ahead (see tracker here)could be considered for a repair stop. But that would the dream of the women in The Famous Project CIC of a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe burst. A repair stop would directly cost the team the hoped-for Jules Verne Trophy, which had been out of reach from the start anyway. Above all, however, the dream of becoming the first female crew to complete a non-stop circumnavigation on a maxi-multihull without outside help would die for the time being.
On this Sunday in Advent, the fifteenth day of the adventure, none of the eight sailors were ready to give up on their dream. A good two weeks after the start on 29 November, the decision was unanimous in the ongoing challenge for the Jules Verne Trophy to continue the adventure for the time being. Although a few tears were shed on board during these days, Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen and Stacey Jackson finally looked each other in the eye and decided: "We're going on!"
The eight sailors want to complete their round-the-world trip. For six hours last Friday, the entire crew of The Famous Project CIC toiled together on the deck of the maxi trimaran, looking for solutions as they slowly made their way southwards in the heart of the South Atlantic. The reason for their problems is the mainsail latch, which is stuck and jammed. However, several attempts to repair it by several sailors who went up the mast have so far been unsuccessful.
Previous repair attempts have failed
"Bex, first of all," Alexia Barrier had explained. "She has incredible willpower and is a real talent. She climbed up the mast, which is more than fifteen metres high, in rough seas to check the part to which the halyard lock is attached. We could hear her over the headsets. A groan with every jerk. It's intense up there. And we downstairs took pity on her. Molly, always ready to tinker. Debs and Annemieke, who searched, rummaged and found the right equipment. Stacey with her ideas, her experience, her good overview."
Alexia Barrier continued: "Meanwhile, Olympic champion Tamara Echegoyen was at the helm. Dee was listening, coordinating and keeping an overview. And I was in constant contact with the team on land to receive, check and pass on information." But all efforts have so far been in vain. The mainsail stubbornly stuck to the second reef.
The sailors had already started to think about the task ahead when Alexia Barrier asked the onshore router Christian Dumard to "calculate routings at 70% of our potential to assess our ability to continue sailing at a reasonable speed". Alexia Barrier explained: "We had to accept sailing in our current configuration, with the huge constraint of having to stop the boat for several hours every time we changed reefs. We are at the gateway to the Southern Ocean and have decided that it is worth continuing. We agreed on this perspective and set off again!"
Jules Verne Trophy: making a virtue out of necessity
The adventure of the Famous Project CIC continues for the time being. Alexia and her seven fellow campaigners now have to invent a different way of sailing, sometimes under sail, with different wind angles and alternative concepts for using their headsails. This has added further hurdles to the already daunting task of circumnavigating the globe. The team is endeavouring to take a positive view of the increased challenge, vowing additional "depth, spice and value" to their attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy, which the break has put out of reach.
After deciding to continue, Alexia Barrier said: "You may not believe me, but we almost decided to stop. We thought about it for two days. We thought about nothing else for two days. We weighed things up. We were analysing. And the question kept going back and forth in our heads."
On such a big adventure, the most difficult decision is not to set sail. It's to give up," said Alexia Barrier. And then this: "The mechanical failure we suffered is not trivial," said Alexia Barrier. "It's serious, but it doesn't jeopardise our safety. It jeopardises our speed. The record. The numbers. It doesn't jeopardise our history. Or our dream. Or our ambition to write a new chapter in our sport by being the first female crew to complete a non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation on a maxi multihull."
Alexia Barrier: "We will continue!"
Alexia Barrier talks about the path to the decision and also about the discussions she had with the team on land and how she "felt the strength of their support". Technically and personally, as the Frenchwoman assured us. Her team then had a clear view of the future. Everyone knows what Alexia Barrier is saying: "It's not going to be easy. We have to keep tinkering. Adapt ourselves. Pull ourselves together. But we'll keep going."
Another realisation that Alexia Barrier shares with the team and fans is a driving force for the sailors: "Nobody will remember a number. But everyone will remember an achievement. Because no matter what happens, we are experiencing something that very few people will ever experience. Because passing Cape Horn with an all-female crew on a trimaran is something you never forget. And because if we have to stop one day, we will know how to do so with a clear conscience. But not now. Not here."
