Paris (AFP)

Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, at the head of a giant flying 32 m multihull (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild), and their teammates crossed the Cap des Aiguilles on Thursday, which opens the door to the Indian Ocean, with a day of advance on the record to be beaten during the Jules Verne Trophy.

The crew, made up of six sailors, passed the latitude of Cap des Aiguilles (southern tip of Africa) with 1 day and 7 hours ahead of the boat holding the record for the round the world crewed non-stop, the one by Francis Joyon (Idec Sport).

Leaving Ouessant on January 10, the sailors will have taken 11 days and 14 hours to reach this course, i.e. a new reference time on this portion (Ouessant-Cap des Aiguilles), which is not listed by the body that validates the world sailing records (World Sailing Speed ​​Record Council).

"We had a good time, we respected the objective of having a lot of lead over Francis (Joyon) at the entrance of the Indian, which seemed essential to us to try to beat his time", explained to AFP Caudrelier.

The sailors have in sight the 40 days and 23 hours signed by Joyon and his 5 crew in January 2017, the absolute record around the planet.

"He killed the record a bit in the Indian Ocean, we knew that we would never find the conditions he had again and this is confirmed, our lead which seems strong today will die very quickly in the Indian Ocean ", warned the co-skipper of the boat.

"Francis' suite in the Indian Ocean is perfection, we already know that we will go much slower than him. In Australia, if we still have 100, 200 miles ahead of (him) we will be very happy We know that the next fortnight will be hard, we will get to the heart of the matter, we will have to attack, the record is hard to beat, ”continued Caudrelier.

The crew took advantage of this time to pay tribute to their owner, Benjamin de Rothschild, who died on Friday.

© 2021 AFP