Francis Joyon and his 5 crew crossed the start line of the Jules Verne Trophy between Ushant and Cape Lizard at 22 h 14 min and 45 seconds. The crew of the trimaran Idec Sport will try to beat the reference time set in 2012 by Loïck Peyron and thirteen crewmen by completing the race in less than 45 d 13 h 42 min and 53 sec.
Francis Joyon, Bernard Stamm, Alex Pella, Gwénolé Gahinet, Clément Surtel and Boris Herrmann cast off from the port of Brest at 8pm this Sunday 20th November 2016. At the end of last October, the men of the red trimaran were returning to stand-by, but had to abandon their attempt. It was an experience which had been repeated a second time. It should be remembered that Francis Joyon and his crew had originally planned to set off on 6th November last, like the skippers of the Vendée Globe and Thomas Coville.
They will now have to seek the favourable winds generated on the other side of a low pressure centre. A weather system which they will have to traverse over around fifty miles or so before they hit the powerful northerly breeze which will give them the tempo for the start of this round the world absolute speed record conquest.
"The weather situation at the start isn't necessarily obvious as it first makes us progress in light winds before crossing the line. But we're setting off because we're telling ourselves that it's better to try than not to try, especially as once we get through this pre-start weather difficulty, the rest of the weather situation looks good. There's a nice possible connection with the South Atlantic with a front breaking away from Cabo Frio in Brazil which, as soon as we manage to catch it, could lead us in reasonable time for our attempt at Cape Good Hope. We're always happy to set sail, even if it's a bit special to set off into a low pressure centre, synonymous with light airs. I've always set out on a record chase in established winds. It's an experience, but we're here to learn and we're still going to learn a lot from this new attempt", explains Francis Joyon before leaving the pontoon.
The next objectives are "sharp" as Francis Joyon says, with a crossing of the Equator in less than 6 days and a passage of the Cape of Good Hope between 12 and 13 days.
Last year, Idec Sport - which went on the Jules Verne Trophy with the same crew - had put 47 days 14 hours and 47 minutes . ...which gave him the third fastest time on the record, behind Spindrift 2.
