A new page has been written in the history of ocean sailing: one in which the limit is no longer a question of gender, but only of ocean and time.
This was achieved by the all-female crew of The Famous Project who, aboard the maxi-trimaran IDEC Sport CIC, completed a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, crossing the finish line between the French island of Ouessant in Brittany and Lizard Point in England after 57 days, 21 hours, 44 minutes.
The protagonists of this extraordinary feat were seven sailors representing seven countries: Alexia Barrier (France), Dee Caffari (United Kingdom), Annemieke Bes (Netherlands), Rebecca Gmür Hornell (Switzerland/New Zealand), Deborah Blair (United Kingdom), Molly LaPointe (United States), Támara Echegoyen (Spain), and Stacey Jackson (Australia).
Of course, winning the Jules Verne Trophy would have been a different story, but the result achieved by the crew led by Alexia Barrier has earned them a place in the sailing Hall of Fame. “We send our heartfelt congratulations to Thomas Coville and the entire Sodebo crew. We followed their progress from start to finish: it’s something historic, extraordinary.
Congratulations on this record,” commented Alexia Barrier when she heard about the record. However, this does not detract from the achievement of The Famous Project CIC.
The role of women in big sailing
It is now clear. Sailing is changing, and quickly. The role of female sailors is becoming increasingly central. We saw this firsthand in the Rolex SailGP Championship circuit, which last year saw Martine Grael win, for the first time in the history of the circuit, a race at the helm of Brazil…
It is no longer enough to have a female sailor on board the F50s, the multihulls used in SailGP, as is now standard practice, indeed a strict rule. However, it was not so obvious to imagine her as part of the crew in the next Louis Vuitton America’s Cup. The 38th edition of the event will go down in history as the first to field a mixed crew with a female sailor.
The history of women in the America’s Cup is not a straight line, but a succession of breaks, silences, and sudden accelerations. For over a century, their presence remained marginal, almost invisible; then, in the mid-1990s, there was an unexpected change of course; finally, in the new millennium, formal recognition. Three distinct phases that tell the story not only of the evolution of the America’s Cup, but also of sailing and society.
From isolated pioneers to the era of the J-Class
The first phase is that of the pioneers, women alone in a deeply male-dominated world, admitted on board more for their family connections or social status than for any real sporting recognition. This happened in 1886, when Susan Henn became the first documented woman to participate in the America’s Cup, aboard the challenger Galatea.
An isolated case, but not unique. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, other figures emerged intermittently. Edith Hope Goddard Iselin, aboard Defender and then Columbia, was the first woman to be part of a winning crew (1895 and 1899). In 1934, Elizabeth “Sis” Hovey, on the Rainbow, wrote another symbolic page in history by becoming the first woman to win an international sailing event. The golden years of the J-Class also saw the appearance of Phyllis Sopwith and Gertrude Vanderbilt, prominent figures in the 1934 and 1937 challenges. These were important appearances, but always numerically marginal, never enough to really dent the male structure of the competition. The America’s Cup remained, in fact, a man’s business.
1995: the arrival of “Mighty Mary”
The second watershed moment came on January 13, 1995. For the first time in history, an all-female crew took part in the selection races for the America’s Cup Defender. It was the America³ team, led by Dawn Riley and backed by billionaire Bill Koch.
The boat was called Mighty Mary, a name that was already a manifesto. The project was met with general skepticism, if not outright opposition. But on the water, the hierarchies immediately began to crumble: the women’s team surprised everyone by winning the first race against Dennis Conner, a living legend of the America’s Cup. It was a sensational result, destined to enter the collective imagination of this competition.
Mighty Mary did not make it to the match race final, but the message had already been sent. For the first time, women were no longer an individual exception, but a structured, competitive, visible sporting project. The America’s Cup was no longer completely inaccessible territory.
Towards a new era
After 1995, the path remained complex, with partial openings and setbacks, but the breach had been opened. That precedent made possible what had seemed unthinkable just a few years earlier: the establishment in 2024 of an official competition dedicated to women, the Puig Women’s America’s Cup, won in its first edition by the Luna Rossa crew. This achievement does not erase the previous history, but rather recomposes it. From the solitary pioneers of the 19th century, through the collective courage of Mighty Mary, to today’s formal recognition, the presence of women in the America’s Cup has ceased to be a footnote. It has finally become part of the main narrative.
The Ultimate Project CIC
The goal is clear and ambitious: to push the technical and human limits of ocean sailing. It is from this vision that The Famous Project was born. The first achievement was to enter the history of the Jules Verne Trophy by completing a round-the-world trip, without stops and without assistance, with an all-female crew. Mission accomplished.
Leading this challenge was Alexia Barrier, a skipper with over twenty years of ocean experience. Her resume speaks for itself: 18 Atlantic crossings, five of which were solo, the Vendée Globe 2020 completed, and over 200,000 nautical miles traveled.
These numbers explain why this project goes beyond the logic of a symbolic gesture. “This is my dream boat for such an ambitious project,” explains Barrier. “An initiative that goes beyond the sporting aspect: it aims to give women the same tools, techniques, and materials as men to win challenges of this level. The Famous Project is also a social project, which perfectly sums up our mantra: dare, dream, share.” Supporting the venture is Richard Mille, a long-standing partner in projects where performance, innovation, and audacity come together.
For the Swiss maison, investing in extraordinary challenges is the rule rather than the exception: the need for speed remains intact, even if this time it is measured on water rather than asphalt. A bond with sailing that is already well established, from collaborations with Voiles de Saint-Barth to the creation of the Richard Mille Cup. In the Jules Verne Trophy, where time is the only adversary and the ocean offers no concessions, The Famous Project is set to become not only an extreme sporting challenge, but also a powerful sign of change. A declaration of intent that looks to the future of sailing — and beyond. “Richard Mille is taking a new step in its extraordinary commitment to adventure, combining excellence, technology, and performance, the three pillars of the brand,” says Amanda Mille, Brand and Partnerships Director. “Daring, challenging, and taking risks: The Famous Project allows us to write a new page in our history of commitment to women. Above all, this project is driven by the passion of everyone involved. Alexia Barrier’s clear desire to surpass herself regardless of the context really won us over,“ concludes Mille.
The Jules Verne Trophy, at the origins of a record: the vision (also) of a sailor
”What if we sailed around the world in 80 days?”
It was not a provocation at a press conference or a vision from a marketing office. It was a phrase thrown out there one evening in 1985, amid empty glasses and weary laughter, around a table of sailors in Trinité-sur-Mer, Brittany. It was uttered by Yves Le Cornec, known as “Mickey,” while celebrating with Florence Arthaud, Eugène Riguidel, and other sea companions their return from a historic Atlantic crossing.
They had just accomplished something that, until then, seemed out of reach: 3,000 miles between Quebec and Saint-Malo at an average speed of 13 knots. “As we talked and imagined circumnavigating the globe at that speed, the idea of 80 days suddenly seemed obvious to me,” Le Cornec would later recall. The next day, intuition became calculation. Maps were opened, numbers were crunched: 26,000 miles in 80 days was theoretically possible. Literature already provided the perfect title. Jules Verne, Phileas Fogg, a bet against time. Only one thing was missing: the boats. At the time, Le Cornec admits, “we were still a long way from imagining the performance of today’s boats.” But ideas, at sea, often precede technology. The final spark came in 1990, when Titouan Lamazou won the first edition of the Vendée Globe, sailing solo around the world.
“One challenge always replaces another; the 80-day challenge was already waiting for us behind the harbor breakwater,” he said at the time.
In the same year, Florence Arthaud won the Route du Rhum, becoming the first woman to win a major solo ocean race. It was clear that something was about to happen. In 1991, the Jules Verne Trophy took shape: no size limits, no crew restrictions, just one rule—beat the time.
A technical utopia, a cultural challenge, an act of faith in man’s ability to push himself further. In an era dominated by restrictive regulations on size and tonnage, the Jules Verne Trophy broke the mold: no limits on boats, no restrictions on the number of men on board. At first, it was even believed that the boats available were not yet powerful enough to match the time imagined by Phileas Fogg. Lamazou set to work on a giant monohull, a project inspired by the great ocean schooners of the 19th century and the myth of the Bluenose, the legendary Canadian ship. His 44-meter-long TAG Heuer is the ideal heir to this legacy. At the same time, Florence Arthaud sought to obtain the necessary funds from her sponsors to build a 40-meter catamaran. The 80-day challenge thus also became a laboratory of creativity for designers and naval architects.
“The Jules Verne Trophy offers new freedom to the genius of architects and shipyards,” says Lamazou. “And for many years to come, it will be a pretext for sparking the imagination of skippers.” The rest is history. A history that in 34 years has seen 27 attempts and only ten successful ones reach the finish line and enter the history of sailing. Because the Jules Verne would not just become a record. It would become an obsession, changing the rules of sailing forever.
Matteo Zaccagnino
