A tilt at going around world in only 39 days

This giant, first launched in 2008, stretches to 121ft in length, can reach speeds of 50 knots, and is designed to sail consistently at more than 25 knots and rack up daily mileages of up to 900 nautical miles. In the hands of a previous crew it set the outright record for the Jules Verne Trophy at 45 days and 13 hours in 2012.

But since then its attempts have met with failure. In 2017 the boat went right around the world — setting the thirdfastest time in history — but not breaking the record. The following year it dismasted even before Bertarelli and Guichard’s crew had crossed the start line, between the French island of Ushant and the Lizard lighthouse on the Cornish coast. Then, in February 2019, they got as far as Australia before having to retire, and then retired again the following December, west of Porto in Portugal, both times because of damage to their starboard rudder.

The boat’s recent history underlines the difficulty of this challenge, with only nine record-setting voyages achieved out of 33 attempts in nearly 30 years, a period in which the reference time has been halved.

With a minimum course length of 21,600 nautical miles — though yachts often sail much further than this because of the vagaries of the weather — a successful attempt now requires an almost perfect meteorological setting.

Having selected the right “weather window” to leave, crews can ill afford any delays as they head south in the Atlantic and then cross the always tricky Doldrum belt between the main northern and southern hemisphere weather systems. Then they need a fast ride through the Southern Ocean before they tackle the climb back up the Atlantic, when good fortune with the winds can make the difference between success or failure.

But weather alone is not the only issue. These boats are powerful and strong but vulnerable to damage when hitting debris in the water with foils or rudders. The high level of rubbish in the oceans — especially to the south of Cape Town — is a constant threat, as are collisions with whales. Even without collisions, the extreme stresses on the boats can cause structural failure that instantly ends record attempts.

The 11-strong multinational crew of Sails of Change — the name highlights Bertarelli’s campaign to create a sustainable future for the planet — includes the Australian-born but formerly British resident yachtsman Jack Bouttell as one of its three watch leaders and two bowmen.

Married with a one-year-old son and living near Lorient in Brittany, Bouttell, 30, is nothing but realistic about the challenge ahead. “It’s still there for the taking, but you have to have everything in your favour,” he said.

“It’s not a case of, ‘Let’s go and see what happens,’ it’s well beyond that stage. Ten to fifteen years ago, if you built a new boat and left on a pretty good window, you would have a pretty good chance, whereas now everything has to be in place in every single way.”

As to how much he and his fellow sailors can hope to beat the record by, the target looks very small indeed. “Realistically we could take a day off it,” he said. “We’re not talking more than that. If we break it, it will be close — potentially sub-40 days, but more than that would be a big push.”

A former winner of the Ocean Race as part of the crew of Dongfeng Race Team, Bouttell regularly works at the bow, the most dangerous end of the boat. He knows that this voyage will be risky on a platform travelling at exceptional speeds on its own — as opposed to being surrounded by competitors in a race — and often hundreds or thousands of miles from help.

“There are always butterflies,” he said. “I try not to think about it too much until we’re ready to go. A 37-metre carbon trimaran is more extreme than an equivalent monohull because it can flip [over] and, in the case of a man overboard, the chance of being recovered with this sort of boat is very slim. You just try to put all that out of your head because if you think about it too much you’d never be able to do it. But, yeah, for sure, it’s still a pretty big thing to take on.”

Sails of Change, which is set up to complete its voyage entirely without use of fossil fuels, is sitting in the French Brittany harbour of La Trinité, ready to go at a moment’s notice. The weather picture is being constantly assessed as the boat’s skipper and navigator — together with their onshore routing expert — hunt for the perfect runway to get them down the Atlantic at breakneck speed.

The immediate goal will be the 3,200-mile passage from Ushant to the Equator, an amuse-bouche for the Jules VerneTrophy, for which Sails of Change holds the record, with an astonishing time of only four days, 19 hours and 57 minutes.

How Jules Verne Trophy’s record time has tumbled

2017 IDEC Sport, Francis Joyon (FRA) 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes, 30 seconds

2012 Banque Populaire V, Loïck Peyron (FRA)
45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes, 53 seconds

2010 Groupama 3, Franck Cammas (FRA) 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes,
52 seconds

2005 Orange II, Bruno Peyron (FRA) 50 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes,
4 seconds

2004 Geronimo, Olivier de Kersauson (FRA) 63 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, 46 seconds

2002 Orange, Bruno Peyron 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes, 24 seconds

1997 Sport-Elec, Olivier de Kersauson 71 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes, 8 seconds

1994 ENZA New Zealand, Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR)/Peter Blake (NZL) 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds

1993 Explorer, Bruno Peyron 79 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds