Saturday January 17, 2026 - An uncooperative start to the North Atlantic

January 17, 2026

Day 49

True to its reputation, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the sinister doldrums, once again proved mischievous throughout the day yesterday, slowing down and even holding back the girls of The Famous Project CIC. Storm clouds multiplied on the route of the Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT as it attempted to head north.
It was only at nightfall that the powerful north-easterly trade winds finally filled the sails of the giant trimaran. Then came the dreaded moment of reducing the sail area, and the stubborn hook on the mainsail once again proved difficult to release, forcing Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen, and Stacey Jackson to undertake another painful dismantling and reassembly operation, which also penalized their speed.
And as trouble always comes in threes, it was while performing this delicate reefing maneuver that the girls noticed a tear in the leech of the mainsail. At daybreak, a sail workshop was set up on board. “Nothing too serious,” says Alexia. "We'll be able to repair it quickly, but we'll be slowed down a bit this morning, as we're now sailing only under mainsail with two reefs and J3." Add a little (a lot) of sargassum* in this equatorial part of the course, and you will understand that the 2 800 miles still to go to Ushant are not the easiest leg of this incredible journey.

*Sargassum is a kind of brown algae in the Sargassaceae family.
Since 2011, vast patches of sargassum have spread across the high seas northeast of South America and also towards Africa. They clump together in vast rafts that can reach over 1 000 m² and several meters thick. It is estimated that in 2018, a record biomass of 20 million tons colonized this part of the ocean.