Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier already forced to turn back. The two skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild trimaran have decided to turn around in their attempt to break the Jules-Verne trophy record after damage, we learned overnight from Sunday to Monday from their team.
The sailors of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild crossed the start line off Ouessant (Finistère) on Sunday at 2:09 p.m. French time, with the hope of breaking the round-the-world record set in 2017 by Francis Joyon and IDEC Sport ( 40d 23h 30min 30s).
Repair and wait for a shooting window
They had reached the Bay of Biscay when they announced that they were abandoning their attempt and returning to Lorient to “repair damage to an element” of the engine. “The objective (is) now to repair in order to be able to wait for a favorable weather window as soon as possible”, explained the team.
During a Jules Verne trophy, the engine is not used to move the sailboat forward, but it is “essential to ensure the charging of the batteries and all the necessary autonomy” on board, it was specified.
“For the moment, we haven’t managed to do more than 15 or 20 days in the South Seas while keeping the boat in good condition. Reliability is perhaps going to be the key point of this round the world,” Caudrelier said on Sunday before setting off.