The Carthage Challenge consists in reaching Marseille (from the Pomègues du Frioul lighthouse and the Roucas Blanc basin) and Carthage (to the Sidi Bou Saïd lighthouse, at the western entrance to the Tunis Bay). In total, sailors must cover 460 nautical miles (850 km) on the boat of their choice (monohull, multihull, solo, crewed). The only rule is to get to Tunisia as soon as possible.
The Carthage Challenge consists in reaching Marseille (from the Pomègues du Frioul lighthouse and the Roucas Blanc basin) and Carthage (to the Sidi Bou Saïd lighthouse, at the western entrance to the Tunis Bay). In total, sailors must cover 460 nautical miles (850 km) on the boat of their choice (monohull, multihull, solo, crewed). The only rule is to get to Tunisia as soon as possible.
The Nacra F20 Carbon, a small Formula 1 ocean racing car
To join the Phocaean coasts to those of Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia), the two men chose the Nacra F20 Carbon, a boat at the cutting edge of technology, built on curved daggerboards and equipped with a Kevlar mainsail. Fast and ultra-light (160 kg) it is also resistant and perfect to face the extreme conditions that await it during the crossing.
Do better than Yvan Bourgnon
Yvan Bourgnon and his teammate, Jérémie Lagarrigue, F18 World Champion, have held the Record since 2010! The sailor managed to connect the two ports in only 53h52min aboard his catamaran Hobie Cat Fox.
Solo, several of them have rubbed shoulders with their maxi-trimarans. Bruno Peyron in September 2004 on Orange, Franck Cammas in 2009 on Groupama 3 and Pascal Bidégorry on 15 May 2010 on Banque Populaire V. The latter is the record holder with an average speed of 33.2 knots over the 477 miles actually covered.
Shortly after Yvan Bourgnon, two passionate sailing entrepreneurs, Dominique Tamalet and Jean Louis Jeannin, tried in vain to break the previous record with a 20-foot Hobie Cat-Fox in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
