Jules Verne Trophy

The Trophy, displayed at the National Maritime Museum, Paris.

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.^[1] 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 (albeit by railroad and steamboat) in 80 days. The current holder is Banque Populaire V skippered by Loick Peyron in 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds.

Foreword

• The original idea for this competition has been attributed to Yves Le Cornec in 1985. The rules were defined in 1990. A committee was put in place to guarantee respect of the rules and fairplay. This committee included Peter Blake, Florence Arthaud, Jean François Coste, Yvon Fauconnier, Gabrie Guilly, Robin Knox-Johnston, Titouan Lamazou, Yves Le Cornec, Bruno Peyron, Olivier de Kersauson, and Didier Ragot.
• The Jules Verne Trophy is awarded to the challenger who breaks the previous Jules Verne record of the round the world voyage under sail. The winner holds the trophy until such time as his/her record has been bettered.

Route

• The Jules Verne Trophy's starting point is defined by an imaginary line between the Créac'h lighthouse on Ouessant (Ushant) Island, France, and the Lizard Lighthouse, UK. Circumnavigate the world leaving the capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn to port. Cross the starting line in the opposite direction.
• The starting line is open as of the official ratification of the trophy's rules by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.

Rules

• Propulsion of the boat must solely be by natural forces of the wind and of the crew.
• The Jules Verne trophy is open to any type of boat with no restrictions.
• Crew size is not restricted.
• The circumnavigation must be completed non-stop and with no physical outside assistance.
• Challengers must respect safety rules.

History

Records

Year	Skipper	Yacht	Type	Time
Current holder
2012	Loïck Peyron	Banque Populaire V	Trimaran	45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds
Past holders
2010	Franck Cammas	Groupama 3	Trimaran	48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds[2]
2005	Bruno Peyron	Orange II	Catamaran	50 days 16 hours 20 minutes 4 seconds[3]
2004	Olivier de Kersauson	Geronimo	Trimaran	63 days 13 hours 59 minutes 46 seconds[1]
2002	Bruno Peyron	Orange	Catamaran	64 days 8 hours 37 minutes 24 seconds
1997	Olivier de Kersauson	Sport Elec	Trimaran	71 days 14 hours 22 minutes 8 seconds
1994	Robin Knox-Johnston Peter Blake	ENZA New Zealand	Catamaran	74 days 22 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds
1993	Bruno Peyron	Explorer	Catamaran	79 days 6 hours 15 minutes 56 seconds

Record attempts

Year	Skipper	Yacht	Type	Notes
Failed attempts (15)
2011	Pascal Bidégorry	Banque Populaire V	Trimaran	Damaged centerboard, west of the Cape of Good Hope[4]
2009	Franck Cammas	Groupama 3	Trimaran	Ushant-Equator: 5 days 15 hours 23 minutes (new record)[5] Broken aft beam bulkhead, South Africa[6]
2008	Franck Cammas	Groupama 3	Trimaran	Loss of leeward float leading to capsize, New Zealand[7]
2004	Bruno Peyron	Orange II	Catamaran	Damaged starboard hull, Cap Verde islands
2004	Bruno Peyron	Orange II	Catamaran	Damaged starboard crashbox, Spain
2004	Olivier de Kersauson	Geronimo	Trimaran	Damaged gennaker, North Atlantic
2003	Olivier de Kersauson	Geronimo	Trimaran	Circumnavigation achieved, record not broken
2003	Ellen MacArthur	Kingfisher 2 (formerly Orange)	Catamaran	Broken mast, South-East Kerguelen Islands
2002	Olivier de Kersauson	Geronimo	Trimaran	Damaged rudder, Brasil
2002	Bruno Peyron	Orange (formerly Innovation Explorer)	Catamaran	Damaged mast, Ouessant
1998	Tracy Edwards	Royal et SunAlliance (formerly ENZA New Zealand)	Catamaran	Broken mast, Southern seas
1996	Olivier de Kersauson	Sport-Elec	Trimaran	Excessive delay
1995	Olivier de Kersauson	Sport-Elec (formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux)	Trimaran	Extreme weather
1994	Olivier de Kersauson	Lyonnaise des Eaux (formerly Charal)	Trimaran	Circumnavigation achieved, record not broken
1993	Peter Blake Robin Knox-Johnston	ENZA New Zealand	Catamaran	Damaged hull, Indian Ocean
1993	Olivier de Kersauson	Charal	Trimaran	Damaged outrigger hull, South of Cape Town

The Trophy

The "Trophy Jules Verne" was the subject of a public order of the visual arts delegation with the American artist Thomas Shannon and is patroned by the French Ministry of Culture.

The work is a floating hull on a magnetic field, much as an anchorage for a ship. All dimensions have rigorous symbolic meaning. The midship beam of the hull corresponds to the diameter of the Earth, the ray of each end is proportional to that of the moon and the radius of the curvature of the frames is that of the sun. The competitors of the Trophy Jules Verne race around the Earth against time, with only the sun and the moon as companions and time keepers.

The sculpture is placed on a cast aluminium base, on which the names of the sailors having won the Trophy are engraved. The Musée national de la Marine in Paris hosts and maintains the Trophy. Each winner receives a miniature of the Trophy, magnetized like the original one.

When a record is broken, an official ceremony is held for the previous record holders to hand over the trophy to the new record holders, who are given the hull and must place it in its magnetic field mooring.

See also

• Around the world sailing record
• The Race (yachting race)
• World Sailing Speed Record Council

References

In 2004 Steve Fossett had enquired about registering his RTW attempt with the Jules Verne organisation. The fee he was asked to pay was more than double that being charged to other entrants . It was explained that his was a fee for a 'first time' entrant. Fossett objected to this higher charge and offered to pay the same amount as charged to others. The offer was refused. Approximately one week before arriving back Fossett instructed his management team to repeat his original offer. This was again refused. Cheyenne went on to take the absolute RTW record by a significant margin. The Trophy was subsequently awarded to 'Geronimo' for a time five days slower than that of 'Cheyenne', thereby negating the trophy's claim to be awarded for the outright round the world record.