A week after the start of the westward round-the-world record attempt, Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard sail south of the Cape Verde archipelago. The Trimaran Crew Use It Again! It has traveled 2.250 miles (4.000 kilometers) since leaving Lorient and is expected to cross the equator next Saturday, at the end of the day. Since leaving the Bay of Biscay, Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard have been sailing with winds that go from north to northeast, between 8 and 25 knots.
“After a week on board this fantastic trimaran, we are doing a somewhat unusual Atlantic descent, not too fast, yet we still maintain a great advantage over the previous record. The trade wind is completely disturbed, we do not have the trade wind, so we have descended very close to the African coast, with the difficulty it has, both due to the traffic that there is, and because it is a fishing area on the coast of Morocco and Mauritania.
We are 80 miles southeast of the Cape Verde archipelago and we are already preparing to attack the next important point, the crossing of the equator, which is a delicate area of calm. During this week we have been acclimating the boat and fine-tuning different parts of it, such as the energy system and the rigging. We knew we were going to use this Atlantic descent to fine-tune both the boat and ourselves, ”says Alex Pella.
The "Use It Again!" It will travel 21.600 nautical miles (shorter theoretical distance), passing through Cape Horn, crossing the Torres Strait in northern Australia and later the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Verde before returning to Lorient, where the clock will stop.
They are doing this challenge aboard a maxi-trimaran, built in 2003 for Ellen Mac Arthur, and which was renewed by the “Use It Again!” Team. in 2016. The objective was to rescue this trimaran and minimize the impact of its repair on the environment, in accordance with the principles of the circular economy: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle. The trimaran has become an example, icon and platform for the promotion of the circular economy.
In this project, the “Use It Again!” Team will also use the miles traveled to support the work of Olivier Adam, a scientist specializing in cetacean noise emissions and ocean noise pollution. Underwater microphones have been installed in the central hull of the multihull to make periodic recordings throughout the trip with the aim of making a global map of the acoustic pollution of the oceans after the trip. "I am very motivated with this new challenge, a challenge that aims to promote the circular economy and raise awareness about the protection of the oceans," said Alex Pella moments before departure.
