Regatta around the world : the amazing meeting on the Jules Verne trophy

On the 15 December, Spindrift 2 crossed paths with Idec Sport - Francis Joyon's trimaran, also currently racing on the Jules Verne Trophy round-the-world crewed record attempt in the Pacific.

brown : Spindrift / red : IDEC / blue : Banque Populaire
(courtesy of Volodiaja)
Start and finish: a line between Créac’h lighthouse (Ushant island) and Lizard Point (England)
Course: non-stop around-the-world tour travelling without outside assistance via the three capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn)
Minimum distance: 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 kilometres)
Ratification: World Sailing Speed Record Council
Time to beat: 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds
Average speed: 19.75 knots
Date of current record: January 2012
Holder: Banque Populaire V, Loïck Peyron and a 13-man crew
Stand-by start date for Spindrift 2: October 19th, 2015

By crossing the longitude of South East Cape, the southernmost tip Tasmania, at 08:39 GMT last Saturday, December 12, 2015, Spindrift 2 set a new record time for crossing the Indian Ocean (Cape Agulhas-Tasmania in eight days four hours and 35 minutes) but more importantly for the passage between Ushant and the entrance into the Pacific: 20 days four hours and 37 minutes, which is two hours and 34 minutes better than the holder of the Jules Verne Trophy.

But what awaits them in the largest ocean on the planet looks quite difficult to decipher.