The Famous Project CIC

Deprived of a Mainsail…

After an initial tear in the middle of the mainsail that occurred on Thursday morning, the nine women crewing the Jules Verne Trophy attempt had managed to keep using the sail with the second reef in. But another gybe caused a second tear, this time under the head (near the gaff/horn).

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Published 23/01/2026

By Kim Wellington

Issue: 205

Published: jan. / feb. 2026

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The mainsail is now unusable, so the Ultim trimaran will have to make for the finish line between the island of Ouessant and the south-west tip of England using only its 30 m² wing mast and its headsails - unless Alexia Barrier, Dee Caffari and their team manage to rig a makeshift (storm) sail from a headsail.

Current conditions are not conducive to major jury-rigging jobs: after leaving the Azores to head closer to the Iberian Peninsula, The Famous Project CIC was already, along the southern edge of the depression, logging over 35 knots of wind that is continuing to build, and a well-formed sea with waves over 6 meters coming from the north-west - set to keep growing over the next 24 hours.

Even so, the crew is determined to round Ouessant and complete their round-the-world. The ETA, initially set for Monday 26 January morning, has been pushed back to the evening, or even to Tuesday 27 morning.

Come on girls - go, go!

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