Dismasting in Jules Verne Attempt

Not every round-the-world record attempt goes as planned. Earlier in the season we saw François Gabart achieve what many thought to be nearly impossible when he sailed his maxi-trimaran Macif around the world in just 42 days, with an absolute minimum of drama, to record the fastest solo circumnavigation on record and secure — incredibly — the second-fastest lap of the globe ever recorded — solo or fully crewed. Seemingly everything that ‘Golden Boy’ Gabart touches turns to gold, so this week’s dramatic failure for maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 was a stark reminder of just how quickly a record attempt can founder.

The Spindrift Racing team had attempted to start their Jules Verne Trophy attempt a week prior, but turned around and headed back to port to wait for a better weather window. The window didn’t fully materialize, but with the brevity of Southern Ocean record-setting season becoming a reality, the team jumped on the next mediocre window that opened. Their record attempt was doomed before it began.

While sailing to the starting line off the Creac’h Lighthouse on the island of Ouessant in northwestern France, the fastest boat ever built promptly dismasted while effectively in the starting blocks for a long-anticipated attempt at the Trophée Jules Verne, the name given to the award presented for the fastest outright circumnavigation of the globe. No one was hurt, and the boat safely returned to harbor in Brest.

With some very big checks written only to result in one high-profile failure after another, one wonders how much more patience Dona Bertarelli and the rest of the Spindrift syndicate will have with the boat. As these record-setting maxi-trimarans have evolved over the years, they have become significantly lighter and less powerful than when Spindrift 2 was built, as evidenced by the constant diet that the boat (and the mast) has been on. One can only hope Dona Bertarelli and her partner/skipper Yann Guichard’s passion for record setting remains strong, and that the syndicate commissions a brand-new build.

We’re happy to hear that no one was hurt, and we express our sincere condolences to the team for what must be an absolutely devastating gut check. We wish them fair winds and following seas as they quite literally pick up the pieces and figure out what comes next.