 |
| © VINCENT CURUTCHET/DPPI |
It took Francis JOYON just 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds to sail solo, non-stop around the world aboard his 98ft trimaran IDEC.
Departing from Brest, France on 23 November 2007 JOYON’s voyage encompassed 26,400 nautical miles of excitement, which he covered at an average speed of 15.84 knots slicing a staggering 14 days off the previous record set by Ellen MACARTHUR in 2005.
JOYON’s journey began as he meant to continue. Precisely following the battle plan drawn up by his weather router, he covered over 500 miles a day to reach the Equator in six days and a little over 18 hours. After just ten days of sailing, JOYON was already 800 miles ahead of MACARTHUR’s record and he shot round the Cape of Good Hope after 15 days, increasing his lead to four days.
JOYON reached the halfway point in 27 days and after carefully threading his way through storms, calm and iceberg territory he reached Cape Horn on 29 December, 35 days after departing from Brest and notching up an average speed of 21 knots.
As JOYON began the home straight the slowdown was sudden. Becalmed and sailing upwind, the South Atlantic showed no mercy. On 8 January he finally managed to pick up the easterly trade wind and began to wind back up to speed, crossing the Equator two days later. A trip up the mast to repair the main halyard highlighted a more serious problem which could have brought the mast - and the record - crashing down in seconds. JOYON climbed his 32 metre mast three times to limit the potential damage but there was more to come. The final days of this epic voyage were spent with the dangers of a deep depression in the Bay of Biscay but JOYON triumphantly arrived back in Brest, completing the remarkable feat in a record breaking 57 days and picking up four other records along the way.
WSSRC Ratified Records – IDEC 98ft Trimaran
Single-handed Round the World Record - 23 Nov 2007 - 19 Jan 2008 - 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds, average speed 15.84 knots
Single-handed 24 hour record – 12 Dec 2007 – 613.5 miles, average speed 25.56 knots
Single-handed Indian Ocean record – 18 Dec 2007 – 9 days, 12 hours and 6 minutes
Single-handed Pacific Ocean record – 28 Dec 2007 – 10 days, 14 hours and 26 minutes
Single-handed Equator to Equator record – 10 Jan 2008 – 41 days, 9 hours and 14 minutes
|
