Monday December 22nd - Change of pace

December 22, 2025

Day 23

The beautiful southern low-pressure system that has been accompanying the women sailors of The Famous Project CIC since South Africa is moving southward as they approach the Australian continent.

Alexia (Barrier), Dee (Caffari), Annemieke (Bes), Rebecca (Gmür Hornell), Deborah (Blair), Molly (LaPointe), Támara (Echegoyen), and Stacey (Jackson) have been negotiating a delicate transition since the middle of last night between this low-pressure system and a high-pressure zone to their north. The wind has settled to north-northwest and is blowing more moderately, between 15 and 20 knots, across the port side of the maxi trimaran. The sea remains rough, with 3 meter waves still as irregular as ever, but which the giant trimaran manages to handle effortlessly. Alexia's international crew is now comfortably adapting to these very special sailing conditions typical of the Southern Ocean, bathed in uniform gray skies where the sea and sky merge together.

With the high-pressure system that cleared the sky and brought back the sun, it is also their steady eastward progress over the last five days, since rounding the Cape of Good Hope, that puts a smile on the faces of the ever-focused crew on board. With an average speed of 26 knots, the women of The Famous Project CIC have had several good days, covering more than 630 miles in each 24 hours. Cape Leeuwin, the second major marker of their round-the-world trip, is now only a thousand miles away from their bows on a direct route. The high-pressure system lingering over western Australia will force them to dive further south, towards the Roaring Fifties and new lows synonymous with powerful downwind winds.