Category: Courses 2016-2017

After a somewhat chaotic start in variable weather conditions, Francis Joyon and his five crewmembers picked up their pace and are shooting ahead to the southwest of the Canaries.

 

Before the team’s departure last Sunday, Marcel Van Triest and Francis Joyon formulated a plan, which was meant to start bearing fruit from the Equator onwards. But they didn’t need to wait that far: after three grueling days, the Idec Sport team has established a good position and can finally breathe a little.

“A departure is always very emotional, and this one was brutal,” reported Clément Surtel on Wednesday. “We’re doing well. We’ve avoided much of the wind. The sea is calming down. We’re on track and dealing with a few minor squalls. We’re fighting to get out of the squalls. We’re happy with our average. We need to make a few repairs but nothing serious. We’re just starting to have normal meals – eggs and bacon for me this morning.”

Conditions are improving and the sun has appeared to the delight of the six sailors on board the maxi-trimaran, now heading south at a very decent average of 30 knots. For now, Clément Surtel says that he’s “not paying too much attention to time gaps”. Idec Sport nonetheless has reason to rejoice because it is now only 11 miles behind Loïck Peyron’s 2012 time for this leg.

But while things look positive, Francis Joyon and his team don’t intend to rest on their laurels: the Cape Verde islands stand in their firing line.

 

Source : www.idecsport-sailing.com

When they crossed the start line at Ushant last Sunday, Francis Joyon and his 5 crew members knew one thing: the start of their adventure was not going to be one smooth ride. After nearly 48 hours on a multifaceted sea, offering them both calmness and strong winds, the Idec Sport team has started to get into its stride.

 

“We were a little shaken up when we went through the center of the low about twelve hours after we left Ushant,” explained Francis Joyon this morning.“We went through many maneuvers that didn’t encourage high speeds, including a dozen or so sail changes. This was exhausting because there are only six of us on this big boat. So we didn’t get much sleep and drew on our reserves.”

The maxi-trimaran is currently heading southwest, sailing off the Moroccan coast. Thanks to strong northeasterly winds, the crew is advancing at a speed of about 28 knots. While they’re 215 miles behind Loïck Peyron’s record, Francis Joyon and his team remain confident about the strategy they have formed with Marcel van Triest, their router and meteorologist. Indeed, the aim is to reach the Equator in a “decent” time, before making it past the Cape of Good Hope in good time.

Remember that in 2012 Loïck Peyron passed the Equator in 5 days, 14 hours and 55 minutes, then the Cape of Good Hope after 11 days.

 

Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)

Twenty-four hours after their departure in quest of the Jules Verne Trophy, Francis Joyon and his crew met with a difficult start before finding their cruising speed on Monday morning, thanks to very favorable winds. The maxi-trimaran is now sailing down the Portuguese coast.

 

We can’t exactly say that Francis Joyon got off to a flying start on his second attempt at the record. Anything but. In conjunction with Marcel Van Triest, the Idec Sport team’s router and meteorologist, the following decision was made: to set off despite weak winds, with the prospect of finding good sailing conditions later along the course. And that’s precisely what happened. Joyon and Co were initially forced to tack due to a quasi-absence of wind. But then, at dawn, breezes finally stirred to the crew’s great joy.

Retour aux conditions de glisse pour IDEC SPORT pointé à plus de 31 noeuds @TJV_officiel pic.twitter.com/K1qnB0KqLC

— Francis Joyon (@FrancisJoyon) November 21, 2016

In this way, they sped across the Bay of Biscay, enabling Francis Joyon to make up for time lost earlier in the day. After 24 hours of effort, the Idec Sport crew found themselves 182 miles off the record set by Loïck Peyron in 2012.

In any case, after this first day at sea, Marcel Van Triest shows optimism: “We envisage making a decent time to the Equator, of roughly 5 days and twelve hours, which is clearly not as good as the one during our 2015 attempt (editorial note: 5 days and 1 hour). But we then expect a very promising time of about 13 and a half days to the Cape of Good Hope, along with the possibility of avoiding going too far south in the ice zones, as our routing suggested when we were looking at an opening on 6 November.”

 

Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)

On Sunday 20 November, at 21:44, Francis Joyon and his 5 fellow crewmembers set off on board their maxi-trimaran, Idec Sport, to conquer the Jules Verne Trophy. Relive, via this video, the start of this wonderful sporting and human adventure, which we invite you to follow on our web site’s news page. You can also follow the crew’s journey thanks to our map.

 

 

Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)

On Sunday, a little before 20:00, Francis Joyon and his five crewmembers cast off from the port of Brest, to guide Idec Sport to the Jules Verne Trophy start line between Ushant and Lizard Point. At 22:14, the six men went over the start line. The timer is now ticking for the Idec Sport trimaran as it vies to improve the record set by Loïck Peyron in 2012.

 

In a hurry to get going after seeing their hopes of setting off foiled twice already, the crew decided to go looking for favorable winds on the other side of a low. They need to cross this weather system for a distance of fifty miles or so before reaching powerful northerly winds which will hopefully set the lively pace they’re after as they set off to conquer the absolute speed record for sailing around the world. The six men were initially expected to go over the line sometime between midnight and one in the morning.

Long suspense

Should they go or should they stay? And if they go, then when exactly? In Code Green since the start of Sunday morning, Francis Joyon, in constant contact with Marcel van Triest, IDEC SPORT’s router, remained on the alert on Sunday afternoon even if he was still uncertain about his chances of making it to the Jules Verne Trophy start line with his crew. The uncertainty was due to unstable weather, which nevertheless opened up an opportunity that the skipper of the 31-metre trimaran was reluctant to let slip away.

“The weather situation at the start isn’t necessarily easy because we need to progress in light winds before going over the line. But we’re going because we think that it’s better to try than not to try – all the more so because once we get over this pre-departure weather difficulty, the rest of the weather situation looks good. A fine connection to the South Atlantic is possible thanks to a front breaking away from Cabo Frio in Brazil. If we manage to catch it, it could take us to the Cape of Good Hope in a decent time,” explained Francis Joyon before leaving the deck.

“We’re still glad to be setting off even if it’s a bit of an unusual situation to be leaving from a low, associated with light winds. I’ve always set off in strong winds when I’ve hunted this record in the past. This is an experience, but we’re here to learn and we’re still going to learn a lot from this new attempt,” he added.

A “tight” time to beat

Let’s remember that to beat the reference time set in 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his thirteen-man crew, Francis Joyon, Bernard Stamm, Alex Pella, Gwénolé Gahinet, Clément Surtel and Boris Herrmann will need to knock off the three-cape route in under 45 days, 42 minutes and 53 seconds. A “tight” result says the IDEC SPORT skipper, which means that he can’t afford to lose any time in getting to the seas of the South, requiring a passage to the Equator in under 6 days, and the Cape of Good Hope in between 12 and 13 days.

 

Source : www.idecsport-sailing.com

On Sunday, Francis Joyon and the IDEC Sport team went back into Code Green, the signal indicating that they may well be about to set off.

 

It’s the third time since the start of November that the Idec Sport team has seen a favourable weather window open up, but this time may well be a case of third time lucky. Latest forecasts predict a “60 % chance of leaving between Sunday evening and Monday morning,” according to Francis Joyon, visibly in a hurry to get going.

“It’s very difficult to wait because we’re on the alert,” explained the navigator. “We make weather readings 4, 5, 6 times a day, checking that the crew’s available and set to get to the boat.” By returning to Code Green, Francis Joyon and his fellow crewmembers (Bernard Stamm, Alex Pella, Boris Herrmann, Gwénolé Gahinet and Clément Surtel) are back in battle-ready mode. The next updates coming from their onshore router Marcel Van Triest will be analysed carefully so that they can make the best decision and seize hold of the timeframe most likely to help them set a new record for the course. The crew is nonetheless dogged by “a level of concern because we’re not sure about the weather,” adds Francis Joyon.

 

Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)

He’d been hoping that weather conditions would allow him to set off on Saturday 12 November. But Idec Sport’s new attempt to beat the Jules Verne Trophy won’t be getting off to a start this weekend after all. The last weather assessments made by Marcel Van Triest, the team’s router and meteorologist, have shown that conditions don’t allow for any records being beaten on the Equator leg.

 

Even if the Idec Sport crew has gone back to Code Red, it is staying on its toes while crossing its fingers for a weather window to open up.

This is the second time that Francis Joyon has been forced to go back to Code Rouge, the mode synonymous with an absence of favorable weather conditions in the next few days.

 

Source : www.idecsport-sailing.com

After going back to Code Amber on Wednesday, Francis Joyon and his crew have been hoping that weather conditions will allow them to set off to conquer the Jules Verne Trophy on Saturday 12 November. But their hopes may well be thwarted once again as “the latest changes in the North Atlantic have clouded the situation,” explains the Idec Sport crew. The coming hours will be decisive.

 

In the last few days, Francis Joyon – along with his router, the crew’s seventh man – has been poring over weather models, with the steadfast hope of seizing an opportunity to leave tomorrow, on the morning of Saturday 12 November. But the situation has now blurred due to the latest evolutions in the North Atlantic. “The latest data shows a high from Mauritania will be shutting off the trade winds, which would mean that the crew would have to go much further west to get to the Equator. In doing so, it would fall several hours behind the record they are aiming to beat,” explains Marcel Van Triest.

The Equator target

With these doubts on the horizon, there’s no question of setting off straight away. A Jules Verne Trophy attempt requires weather conditions to be reliable and stable enough for making it to the Equator and the Southern Hemisphere in good time. This is the only certainty to hang onto for those aiming to take on this absolute speed record, before far greater predictability meets them as they continue the round-the-world race.

Francis Joyon, Clément Surtel, Bernard Stamm, Alex Pella, Boris Herrmann and Gwénolé Gahinet remain on the alert, ready to leave as soon as conditions take a favourable turn enabling them to take up this planetary challenge once again.

 

Source : www.idecsport-sailing.com

Francis Joyon and his crew returned, on Wednesday, to Code Amber during their stand-by wait for appropriate conditions to embark on their new attempt to beat the Jules Verne Trophy record. The IDEC SPORT skipper, along with his onshore router Dutchman Marcel van Triest, is gearing up for a possible departure from Ushant on Saturday 12 November.

 

Even if the situation in the North Atlantic is deteriorating, it remains favorable enough for the team to make it to the Equator in under 6 days, and – as we write these lines – the Cape of Good Hope in under 13 days. Francis Joyon and Marcel van Triest are continuing to keep a watch on the evolution of major weather patterns in the Atlantic, fine-tuning their analyses day by day to confirm – or reject – the viability of crossing the starting line on Saturday.

After a return to Code Red on Sunday 6 November, following the partial opening of a hopeful weather window in the Atlantic, the whole crew of the maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT – Alex Pella, Gwénolé Gahinet, Boris Herrmann, Bernard Stamm and Clément Surtel – is once again shifting into the pre-departure mode associated with Code Amber, as they envisage the possibility of setting off on their world tour on Saturday. Marcel van Triest notes that a departure on Saturday would offer advantageous sailing conditions in the North Atlantic and the possibility of arriving at the Equator in less than 6 days: an altogether respectful time given that the boat would be making the descent with wind directly astern – a point of sail that does not foster very high speeds for ocean-going giants like IDEC SPORT. The situation in the South Atlantic, which raised problems last week, seems to be gradually evolving in the right direction as the St Helena High rises back up.

On the alert more than ever, with boat and supplies ready to go, the entire IDEC SPORT team continues to wait on the assessments, carried out several times a day, by Marcel and Francis. Watch this space…

 

Source : www.idecsport-sailing.com

Nicknamed “the Everest of the Seas,” the Vendée Globe is considered to be the most demanding race to exist because it is a singlehanded event comprising no stops and no assistance. For its 8^th edition starting this Sunday, 29 skippers will be taking up this landmark navigation challenge. Created in 1989 by Philippe Jeantot, the inaugural competition was won by Titouan Lamazou. From edition to edition, the race has become a myth, progressing from a completely deranged challenge into a high-flying sporting and human trial, which has inspired a few more ideas.

One person, one boat, and the ocean. This was what Philippe Jeantot had in mind when he set up the Vendée Globe in 1989. That year, 13 sailors set off to sail around the world singlehandedly, without stops or assistance, inciting widespread admiration :

 

“La course du siècle, le Vendée Globe Challenge” – Stade 2 du 26 novembre 1989 – INA

 

Ever since, while technology has brought big changes and allowed over 30 days to be slashed from the initial record, taking on the Vendée Globe remains a major sporting challenge.

But “one challenge will replace another,” as Titouan Lamazou observed after his victory in 1990. At the initiative of Lamazou and Florence Arthaud, the Vendée Globe gave birth, four years later, to the Jules Verne Trophy and the dream of sailing around the world in 80 days. Once again, this wager seemed a bit crazy to start off with. Until Bruno Peyron met the challenge in 79 days in 1993. But as the years go by and records are bettered, circumnavigation continues to preserve its incredible aura.

In the next few days, whether boats are manned singlehandedly or by crews, the focus will be on sailing round the world. Twenty-nine sailors now hope to improve François Gabart’ record (78 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes in 2013) while Francis Joyon and his team on Idec Sport are watching weather conditions closely to set off, as soon as possible, on their attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy, last won in 2012 by Loïck Peyron (45 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes).

 

Isabelle Trancoen (article translated from French)