It is always an important passage and not only symbolic.
Romain Pilliard and Alex Pella crossed the equator on Sunday morning after 11 days and 17 hours at sea in their round-the-world record attempt against prevailing winds and currents.
No time for comparison possible, the time in multihulls does not exist, even if the two men were 724 miles ahead of Jean-Luc Van den Heede, this Sunday afternoon, but VDH was sailing alone and on a monohull...
“
It's the first time for me! It's more symbolic than impressive, but it materializes the first part of this journey. In our minds, this route is divided into several stages and this one is important. This is the culmination of the challenge which is becoming more concrete every day, we are in the right direction! After the horrors of the Doldrums, which did not spare us yesterday (Saturday), we have good sliding conditions this morning. We are progressing around 15 knots towards Brazil and we hope that this second part up to Cape Horn will go faster. Cape Horn is the most feared passage, the one for which we have been preparing for months. The Use It Again! going well, the sailors too, we are happy and fully for the future
“Launched Romain Pilliard this Sunday, his friend having stopped counting his passages at the equator, “
between 20 and 25 times
”…
If during their first part of the world tour the two men aboard their multihull Use It Again took more or less the same path as that taken by the sailors of the Vendée Globe or the Jules Verne Trophy, they will set sail for the Cape Horn rather than the Cape of Good Hope in that southern hemisphere they fear.
With reason.
Witness this big fright a hundred miles from the equator, with a collision with an unidentified floating object.
More fear than harm for the affected saffron.
And the adventure continues for the two sailors who left at a good pace after being slowed down for some 24 hours by the sinister Doldrums.
