Francis Joyon and Trimaran IDEC now accelerating after passing the halfway point in the Bordeaux to Rio de Janeiro on Route de l ´ Amitié reference time attempt

From the following article on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=257

Halfway between Bordeaux and Rio, IDEC is accelerating 15 april 2014

Right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, IDEC is also halfway through the Friendship Route and Francis Joyon is now accelerating on the direct route.

Francis Joyon is clearly not affected that much by the technical problem concerning the links between his rudders (see our article from yesterday). For the past few hours, he has been back up to speeds above 20 knots and this morning (Tuesday) is preparing to complete more than 2400 miles of sailing. In other words his geographical situation is easy to understand. He is halfway between Bordeaux and Rio and right in the middle of the Atlantic at 15° North and 36 degrees West.

The most important thing is that the IDEC maxi trimaran is now back up to a good VMG (Velocity Made Good). Each mile gained towards Rio de Janeiro is on the ideal track. We can see that Francis Joyon is heading down south almost directly above the islands of Fernando de Noronha, with a touch to the east of due south (bearing of 164° at 0900hrs). That corresponds exactly to the route required to get around the Horn of Brazil before turning right towards Rio de Janeiro. 48 hours ago, Francis Joyon was sailing 150 miles further west… that gives us a good idea of the route that he has had to take to get around the famous low-pressure area, which has been blocking his route for several days. This south-south-easterly route is ideal for him to get on the right track towards the finish.

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