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Monday January 19, 2025 - The Azores high pressure system from the west side!
Day 51
With its bow pointed towards Newfoundland at 90° to the direct route, the Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT, crewed by the women of The Famous Project CIC, has been skirting around the high-pressure center lingering west of the Azores archipelago since leaving the doldrums. The west-northwest trade winds are preventing any efficient route towards Europe, France, and Brittany, and Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen and Stacey Jackson are forced to take the long way home.
It is a long and tedious journey, in strong winds and rough seas, which they are striving to complete as quickly as possible, spurred on by the arrival on Wednesday of a violent storm in the Bay of Biscay. Now more than ever, it is time to focus and strategize in order to negotiate a potentially tricky finish. Despite the fatigue that is now palpable on board after 51 days of high-pressure sailing, Alexia and her crew are totally focused on the considerable goal that has been driving them since December 14: to become the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop round-the-world race in a maxi multihull. And that's no small feat!
Alexia Barrier:
"We're feeling tired, yes, we've just completed a round-the-world trip. We're also feeling impatient, because land is getting closer. But above all, we feel very clear-headed and calm. Because we know why we're here. And we know why we want to see it through to the end. There's always a real collective spirit among the crew. And paradoxically, we're exhausted, but we remain mentally strong.
There are between 20 and 25 knots, we're reaching. The South Atlantic is a little rougher, a little more physical, a little more confrontational. The North Atlantic is more strategic. It can also be brutal, as we'll see at the end of the round-the-world race. It's more unstable, with a lot more weather transitions. It's an ocean that's more mentally demanding. Especially since we know that the end is near and that the weather can still play with our nerves.
The finish looks like it's going to be tough, with waves over 8 meters high. That's certainly not something to smile about. Even though we're always very cheerful and smiling, we're focused and under pressure. We'll see how it develops. And we're not there yet, so it may still decrease in intensity before we get there."