The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the absolute round the world record. The trophy was first awarded to the first yacht which sailed around the world in less than 80 days. The name of the award is a reference to the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days in which Phileas Fogg traverses the planet in 80 days. The current holder is IDEC Sport skippered by Francis Joyon in 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds.
Francis Joyon is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on IDEC SPORT, nearly five days less than the previous reference time. He held the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation from 2008 to 2016.
Alex Thomson is a British yachtsman.
Franck Cammas is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two-year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, as well as a piano academy, Franck Cammas finally opted for a career in sailing. In 1997, at the age of 24, he won the Solitaire du Figaro and a year later helmed his first trimaran christened Groupama. Despite his late entry into competition, he is one of the most talented and respected sailors in the Ocean Racing Multihull Association world.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is a yachting race that follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil. It is named after a French brand of coffee.
Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three most sought after records are the:
Pascal Bidegorry is a French sailor.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world can be attributed to the surviving crew of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, including the last captain Juan Sebastián Elcano who completed their journey in 1522.
Thomas Coville is a French yacht racer.
François Gabart is a French professional offshore yacht racer who won the 2012-13 Vendée Globe in 78 days 2 hours 16 minutes, setting a new race record. In 2017 he set the speed record for sailing around the globe in 42 days 16 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds finishing on 17 December. He was sailing singlehanded in the 30 metre Trimaran Macif.
Alex Pella is a Spanish yachtsman. In 2014 he became the first and only Spanish to win a transoceanic single-handed race, the Route du Rhum. Alex Pella made history once again, on 26 January 2017, when he broke, with the rest of the team, the absolute round-the-world speed sailing record, known as the Jules Verne Trophy., aboard the sophisticated maxi-multihull IDEC 3. They circumnavigated the planet in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
Charlie Dalin is a French offshore sailor. He placed second in the quadrennial Vendée Globe race around the world that took place in 2020–2021, with a time of 80 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds. He covered 28,268 nautical miles at a race average of 14.67 knots. He has a Naval Architecture degree from the University of Southampton.
The 2012–2013 Vendée Globe was a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts and the seventh edition of the race.
Foncia 2 is a IMOCA 60 Class offshore racing monohull sailing yacht launched 2010.
Paul Meilhat is a French sailor and navigator. He was a high level 49er dinghy sailor with Olympic aspirations before moving into offshore sailing. From 2015 to the end of 2018 he was skipper of the IMOCA 60 - SMA and he competed in the Vendee Globe.
The 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre was the 11th edition and was raced from Le Havre, France, to Itajai, Brazil a course distance of 5395 Nautical Miles.
The Ultim class is class of offshore trimaran sailboats.
V&B Monbana Mayenne, is an IMOCA 60 monohull sailing yacht, designed by Guillaume Verdier and constructed by Mer Concept (FRA) in France, launched on 27 of June 2022. It is designed for the Vendée Globe 2024, a solo tour of the world. Its skipper is the French Maxime Sorel.
MACIF Santé Prévoyance, is an IMOCA 60 monohull sailing yacht, designed by Guillaume Verdier and constructed by CDK Technologies and Mer Concept in France, launched on 24 of June 2023. It is designed for the Vendée Globe 2024, a solo tour of the world. Its skipper is the French Charlie Dalin.
The Transat is a transatlantic yacht race first held in 2004 as a spin-off for professional sailors from the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race which is limited to amateurs since.
