Arriving in Brest on Friday afternoon, Francis Joyon and his crew on the maxi trimaran Idec Sport are hoping that conditions will be favorable for them launching, this Sunday, their attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy. Before setting off on this second try at beating the record for sailing around the world, non-stop and without outside assistance, the navigator from France’s Eure-et-Loir department will be taking a close look, this Saturday, at weather conditions. The coming hours will be decisive.
“Regarding our departure date, I’d say that we’re 40 % likely to leave on Sunday,” declared Francis Joyon on Friday to the newspaper Ouest France. “We’re in no way certain about being able to leave quickly, but the boat is in position. We took four hours to come from La Trinité. The boat went really fast. We got up to 37 knots, so that’s really satisfying.”
Because speed will definitely be necessary if the maxi trimaran Idec Sport is to beat the record set in 2011 by Loïck Peyron at the helm of Banque Populaire (45 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes).
A good dose of confidence
Bear in mind that in 2015, Francis Joyon already made a first attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy, but missed out on beating the record when he crossed the finish line at Ushant in 47 days, 14 hours and 47 minutes. This time, Joyon and his crew show boundless determination and are dead set on having their names go down as winners of the competition.
“We know that it’ll be a difficult challenge,” Francis Joyon confided 24 hours ago to Ouest France. “The time that was achieved is quite remarkable, but we also know that we have a chance at succeeding because we’re trained up, we have a good boat, we’re a good team.”
All that the Idec Sport crew needs to do now is to pray that there will be wind on Sunday.
Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)
