They were pleased to be able to take a breather after the full-on performance in the Southern Ocean and were able to carry out an inspection of the boat. Some damage had been noted in the past few days, but nothing significant, and they have now been able to deal with that.
Clément Surtel, Sébastien Audigane, Gwénolé Gahinet, Bernard Stamm, Alex Pella and Francis Joyon took advantage of the calm to admire the natural world around the Falklands. They did not have to wait long for the Argentinean low to appear. Francis Joyon gybed onto the starboard tack early this morning to allow them to head northwards into warmer climes.
The substantial lead they had at Cape Horn has only been slightly affected by this slowdown and with IDEC SPORT less than 6500 miles from the finish, they still hold a lead of 1850 miles over the title-holder, Banque Populaire V.
The IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran skippered by Francis Joyon crossed the longitude of Cape Horn, the last of the three major capes in the Jules Verne trophy at 0004 UTC on Thursday 12th January.
After leaving Ushant on 16th December, Joyon and his crew of five, Clément Surtel, Sébastien Audigane, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet and Alex Pella have achieved the best intermediate time between Ushant and Cape Horn, completing this stretch in 26 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes some 4 days 6 hours and 35 minutes ahead of the reference time set by Banque Populaire V in 2012 (30 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes).
This is their fourth intermediate record including the Pacific Ocean record between the SE of Tasmania and Cape Horn with a time of 7 days 21 hours and 14 minutes (record held by Bruno Peyron since 2005 with a time of 8 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes).
IDEC-SPORT sailed the 18,332 miles out on the water between Ushant and Cape Horn at an average speed of 28.7 knots.
Jules Verne Trophy reference time / Banque Populaire V (2012): 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds
Francis Joyon, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Sébastien Audigane, Gwénolé Gahinet and Clément Surtel are about to achieve one of the finest stories in the history of the Jules Verne Trophy.
By late today (UTC) they should be able to see the lights of Cape Horn, marking the way out of the Pacific and the entrance into the Atlantic. After shattering the Indian record (4 days, 9 hours and 37 minutes) IDEC SPORT should be rounding the Horn after just 26 days and a few hours. The holder of the Jules Verne Trophy, Banque Populaire V with her crew of fourteen took 30 days 22 hours and 18 minutes to get to the tip of South America.
IDEC SPORT is advancing with the wind from astern and is having to carry out a series of gybes to find the best angle in strong winds, in order to maintain their high speeds. They will be taking a northerly route to avoid the calms, which are appearing in Drake Passage. A final difficulty before leaving the Southern Ocean and returning to the more hospitable waters of the Atlantic and the climb back up to Ushant.
With less than a thousand miles to go to the Horn, IDEC SPORT is charging ahead towards the third and final major cape in the round the world voyage. In a twenty-knot westerly wind, the six men are pushing hard, foot on the accelerator with a series of gybes in this final stretch in the extreme south. This morning sailing at between the 57th and 58th parallel, Francis Joyon, Alex Pella, Sébastien Audigane, Gwénolé Gahinet, Clément Surtel and Bernard Stamm have taken their lead to 1700 miles in this Jules Verne Trophy attempt.
Extending their lead by 300 miles since yesterday, Francis Joyon is not hiding the fact that he has a few worries about getting around the Cape. He is expecting light winds and even calms, which would slow them down considerably as they prepare to enter the Atlantic. To deal with this area with all its uncertainties, Francis Joyon and the router Marcel van Triest hope to reach the tip of Tierra del Fuego from the north to benefit from a more favourable air stream. This morning after moving to 57°S to avoid encountering an iceberg or growlers, the red and grey trimaran has already moved back up several degrees of latitude with the wind from astern.
The next 24 hours look tense as they approach the famous cape. The six of them may have clocked up more than fifteen roundings of Cape Horn, but they are all looking forward to getting back to warmer climes and making their way back up the South Atlantic. “This is always a big moment. Our race strategy changes at that moment. We go from what is sometimes close to survival mode to much more comfortable and normal sailing,” explained the skipper of IDEC SPORT, who will be rounding the Cape for the fifth time.
After setting off on the great Jules Verne adventure on three occasions, it was in 2010 that Franck Cammas scored a record time on the course. At the helm of Groupama 3, a maxi-trimaran designed for records, the man nicknamed as the “little Mozart of sailing” pulled off the world tour in 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds. Notably the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race (2011-2012), three Jacques Vabre Transats (2001, 2003 and 2007) and a Route du Rhum (2010), Franck Cammas here retraces his experience of the Jules Verne.
What prompted you to commit to the Trophy for the first time in 2008?
The team and I had already been involved with 60-feet boats for 8 years already, and we wanted to move onto something bigger, in sporting terms. With our partner Groupama, we agreed that the Jules Verne Trophy was a challenge that would suit us both: in sporting terms for us, and in media terms for them. This is why we embarked on a program in 2006, the year in which the boat was constructed. We launched it in 2006, and set out on our first attempt the next year.
What is your favorite memory of the Jules Verne Trophy?
I have plenty of them! But I have to say that when I did the Jules Verne, it was the first time that I went past Cape Horn. When we went past it, we had the wind against us, at 15 knots, with not much wind. It was fun even if we weren’t going very fast. In any case, it was a very moving experience. Next, the arrival was of course a great moment. In 2010, we had fairly bad weather all the way along. We were behind even when we went past the Equator on the way back. We only managed to gain two days once we were in the northern hemisphere on the way back. It was quite tense, so it was a release to finally arrive and beat this record.
What is your worst memory?
In 2010, we were frustrated because we constantly fell into weather impasses. We sailed upwind at Cape Horn and this was the way things remained until the Equator. We weren’t able to open the sails from Cape Horn up to the Equator. We set off near the cut-off date (end of January) and everything went a bit awry in terms of weather. Luckily, we had a good boat that was very versatile – this allowed us to beat the record.
What do you prefer – sailing solo or with a crew?
I haven’t sailed solo since the 2010 Route du Rhum. Overall, I’ve always preferred sailing with a crew, and the dimension of working as a team. I should point out that in a crew, we can use the boat 100 % – something that you can’t do when you’re sailing alone. When you sail solo, you’re forced to gloss over the setup and the fine aspects of steering a little. So in a team, there’s a certain intensity that you don’t find – or less so – when sailing solo.
What does the Jules Verne Trophy mean to you?
It’s the simplest race that exists. There are practically no rules, except regarding the route. So this helps open up opportunities for innovation and investigation on all sporting or technical levels. We see that it isn’t necessarily the largest or most powerful boats that win. The Jules Verne really allows competitors to try out things without any limits being set, making it a competition that reaches extremes. This is pleasant. There isn’t any other race like it.
Do you think about attempting the Jules Verne again one day?
I haven’t thought about it… I’m not closing the door, obviously. It depends on the record because when you commit to the race, there has to be a possibility of beating it. It’s when you believe that you can beat it that you end up lining up on the starting line one day. You also need to have the technical conditions to achieve it, in other words, have an adapted boat. So it’s necessary to either build a suitable boat – and this is a huge operation –, or you need to pick up a boat that is still capable of achieving it, in the way that Idec Sport is in the process of demonstrating.
Idec Sport is of course the former Groupama on which you once sailed…
It’s an old boat, but it’s still proving today that it was designed at a good balance: not too big, very efficient, capable of being sailed solo or by a team. There aren’t many boats like that. It isn’t completely optimized for the solo sailor or for teams, but it’s capable of serving both. And what it does, it does well.
Do you have a message for Francis Joyon and his five teammates, currently attacking the Jules Verne?
Francis has sailed some fantastic times, and notched up some huge days. It’s remarkable! You need to understand that sailing permanently at over 30 knots requires a great deal of attention and agility at the helm; it’s uncomfortable and very noisy. It’s necessarily stressful. Francis and his crew are in the process of finding their limits without going over them. It’s excellent sailing. We can only congratulate them.
IDEC SPORT will be rounding Cape Horn in a few days from now, so it might seem odd that they are heading so far south. Aboard the red and grey maxi-trimaran, all lights are green for the crew, which is continuing to extend its lead over the round the world record with an advance of 1270 miles this morning.
During the night, Francis Joyon and his crew of five carried out a gybe. On the starboard tack, heading SE to pick up some wind allowing them to sail downwind all the way to the exit from the Southern Ocean, there are more gybes ahead.
“We’ll be staying down at 59° S for some time. We’ll be going even further down depending on how the wind shifts. We’re now aiming for a strip of stronger winds to take us downwind to Cape Horn.We can hope for some wind, but we’re going to have to change tack a lot,” Francis Joyon said yesterday afternoon with IDEC SPORT continuing on her way in cold but manageable conditions below an area of high pressure.
So it is not surprising to see them dive into the 60s this morning with agood lead over Banque Populaire V, her virtual rival in the Jules Verne Trophy. In a few hours from now, once they have picked up the SW’ly air stream, they can get a bit further north and sail on a zig-zag course to the Horn at 55°58′ S and 1500 miles ahead of them.
At the start of the 24th day of racing in the remote part of the South Pacific, IDEC SPORT has managed to slide under a low and is advancing in a NW’ly breeze blowing at around fifteen knots in calmer seas. While Francis Joyon and his men have slowed down , the pace is still good as they chase after the Jules Verne Trophy.
“There are several weather hurdles ahead of us,” declared the skipper of the red and grey maxi-trimaran. “The high isn’t too much of a problem as we can get around the south. We won’t be that fast, but will get by. It’s closer to the Horn that we risk finding ourselves without any wind.”
There has been a slight slow down today, which is a welcome break for the six men on IDEC SPORT, as they make their way towards the Horn, which is around 2000 miles ahead. Because of the weather uncertainties, Francis is unable to give an ETA for the third major cape, but for now he is 1185 miles ahead of the record set by Banque Populaire V.
“We’re still feeling positive as we approach Cape Horn, which offers us a lot of hope, as we should be well within the record when we round it,” he added as the trimaran continues through the fog and relatively mild weather in the South Pacific at 58°S.
After a gybe, they’re off again. After a day of being significantly slowed, IDEC SPORT is now on the northern edge of a Southern low with more favourable winds allowing them to step up the pace towards Cape Horn.
Photo Jean Marie Liot / DPPI / IDEC
They now have less than 10,000 miles left to sail and Francis Joyon and his crew are back at high speeds in the South Pacific. This morning at 55°S, they are 950 miles ahead of the record pace in the Jules Verne Trophy and this lead is continuing to increase.
With a NW’ly wind gusting up to 40 knots on waves that are not as nasty, everything is in place for the red and grey trimaran to sail at speed on the port tack. “We have just gybed. The seas are still a bit confused, but we’re sailing well. The boat is making 30-35 knots without us pushing too hard. The seas will improve as time goes by,” said Francis Joyon at dawn 2700 miles from the Horn.
Change of scenery in the South Pacific. As the crew starts its 22nd day of racing in the Jules Verne Trophy, IDEC SPORT has moved away from the Southern low, which propelled the maxi-trimaran all the way across the Indian Ocean.
After one long fast tack, Francis Joyon and his crew have carried out a series of gybes and manoeuvres in the past few hours during a welcome slowdown. Well ahead of the record pace (almost 800 miles this morning), they are starting the final stretch around Antarctica in milder weather, as Sébastien Audigane explains.
“We have just had our first sunny day for a long time. After gybing this morning, the weather improved with the sun offering us some warmth. No more getting drenched with water and getting whipped by the apparent wind. The helmet and neoprene balaclava have been replaced by sunglasses and a simple hat. It’s nice to get a breather. There’s still a long way to go to the Horn. We are sailing under gennaker in seas that are still quite heavy. The albatrosses are with us. Everything is fine on IDEC SPORT!”
At the start of their 21st day of racing, Francis Joyon and his elite crew are preparing to leave the low-pressure system that propelled them so far at high speed, allowing them to sail for eleven days on the same tack and to set several records in the Southern Ocean. As they cross theInternational Date Line and move to degrees of longitude West, IDEC SPORT is tackling a transition zone, meaning that a gybe is imminent to join another low heading towards the Cape Horn.
“We’re already in the Pacific, although it’s hard to grasp. The low that has been with is ggoing to stop here. We’re heading towards the north and then gybing to come down onto another low further ahead,” explained Francis Joyon today with the trimaran heading towards the NE in NW’ly winds that are growing lighter. “We’ve already gone to full sail. We haven’t seen that for a long time. We’ll use the gennaker during the night until we get to the low and hoist the smaller sails again.”
At 52° S, 500 miles SE of Stewart Island to the south of New Zealand, they are all enjoying this short breather. “Even if we’re completely confused about the dates and times, and we’re in No Man’s Land, we know we’ll shortly be getting closer to Brest!” added Bernard Stamm. “It’s incredible to have sailed such a straight line. Everything fell into place for us. After this transition zone, we’ll pick up some more wind and get back on a SSE’ly heading. It’s looking good all the way to the Horn, even if we’ll have more manoeuvres to do,” added the Swiss sailor.
Francis, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet, Clément Surtel and Sébastien Audigane have stabilised their lead at around 950 miles over the time set by Banque Populaire V five years ago, when she was sailed by a crew of 14.
