Francis Joyon's new record route Bordeaux to Rio/Friendship Route (Route de l ´ Amitié) added to benchmark times by the WSSRC

John Reed of the World Speed Sailing Record Council has announced the establishment of a new world record for the 'Friendship Route' set by Francis Joyon on the maxi trimaran IDECII:

http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/

The World Speed Sailing Record Council has announced Performance Certificate No. 46 for the the establishment of the benchmark time on a new route.

Performance: Singlehanded Bordeaux to Rio de Janeiro.

Yacht: 'IDEC' 98ft Tri

Name: Francis Joyon. FRA

Dates: 8th to the 21st April 2014

Start time: 14;33;00 UTC on 08/04/14

Finish time: 17;38;19 UTC on 21/04/14

Elapsed time: 13 days, three hours, five minutes and 19 seconds

Distance: 4812NM

Average speed: 15.27 kts

'Arrivée du trimaran IDEC à Rio de Janeiro - Finish of the Friendship Route'    Andre Pentax / Trimaran IDEC

Francis Joyon on IDEC maxi trimaran final approach to Rio de Janeiro

From the following article on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=262

Will IDEC be slowing down today or not? The answer to this question will determine whether Francis Joyon finishes in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow or on Tuesday.

Francis Joyon is making the suspense last in this final stretch of the Friendship Route. He told us that the weather would probably lead him to slow right down on Easter Sunday, but at 0830hrs UTC, the IDEC maxi trimaran was still doing more than 22 knots on the direct route. The weather charts appear to be rather more optimistic than yesterday. With 400 miles to go to the finish in Rio de Janeiro, each variation in speed and each calm zone could modify considerably the arrival time.

Up until now, Francis Joyon had been talking about finishing on “sometime during daylight hours on Tuesday 22^nd.” It now seems possible that it could be much sooner, although the final 100 miles could still prove tricky. There may well be wind holes, which stop the big red multihull for several hours, but they are difficult to predict.

read more here

The tracker for the record attempt is here:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/media.tracker.aspx

Francis Joyon, Trimaran IDEC slides through the doldrums with about 1200nm to go

Francis Joyon leaves the doldrums and approaches his goal

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=260

The IDEC maxi trimaran has just made it out of the Doldrums. This Friday lunchtime, she is sailing around sixty miles from the Horn of Brazil between Natal and Recife. Francis Joyon is therefore tackling the final stretch of the Friendship Route: 1200 miles along the coast of Brazil, where there still are many traps. He is looking forward to finishing in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.

That’s now behind them. The IDEC maxi trimaran has managed to get away from the claws of the Intertropical Convergence Zone with its alternating periods of squalls, calms and winds, which are extremely variable in strength and direction. Francis Joyon: “I admit that I was rather worried about this trip through the Doldrums, as the forecasts were not exactly positive. The American models were horrible forecasting huge areas with absolutely no wind over a 350-mile wide zone. The European model was a little less pessimistic. In the end, it was something in between the two across a zone measuring around 300 miles. It took me around a day and a half to cross it but I only really got stopped for a few hours, which isn’t that bad.”

read more here

Route de l ´ Amitié, Francis Joyon due to cross the Equator tonight

From the following press release on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=258

High speed sailing directly towards the finish... The IDEC maxi trimaran is averaging 25 knots, as she makes her way south and is therefore lapping up the miles Francis Joyon will be at the Equator tonight, but he remains suspicious of the Doldrums.

“It’s great and I’m really pleased to be sailing on this tack directly towards the finish. It’s something I haven’t been able to do that much with all the low pressure areas I had to get around. The boat is sailing smoothly through the water. I’m in the fairly variable north-easterly trade winds, which are varying between 20 and 28 knots.” Francis Joyon sounded upbeat this Wednesday lunchtime: the IDEC maxi trimaran is sailing at around 25 knots and the solo sailor is clocking up the miles. He is back up to days sailing more than 540 miles. “I’ve got just 300 miles left before the Equator. I shall be crossing into the Southern Hemisphere in around fifteen hours, so during the night for you in Europe,” declared Francis.

The other good news is that “I have managed to repair the link rods between the rudders on the floats. I’ll sort it out completely when I finish, but the repair job is working perfectly well for now. I no longer have to keep switching them over each time I change tack. I haven’t had any other worries apart from what I call my daily routine jobs: a sheet that gives up the ghost, a line that needs replacing, just a few little things like that.”

read more here

 

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.

read more here

Francis Joyon Route de l ´ Amitié Bordeaux to Rio de Janeiro update, making the most of fickle conditions

From the following press release on the Trimaran IDEC website:

http://www.trimaran-idec.com/en/news.articles.aspx?id=255

Playing cat and mouse with the low-pressure area, 13th april 2014

Around 800 north-west of the Cape Verde Islands, Francis Joyon is playing a game of cat and mouse with the low-pressure area centred over the Canaries.

It would be something of an understatement to say that the weather was very unusual for this first edition of the Friendship Route. It is in fact extremely rare at this time of year for an area of low pressure to be centred for so long over the Canaries. This weather system lis upsetting the usual pattern for the trade winds, which blowing from east to west offer downwind conditions for sailors crossing the Atlantic and tend to give them comfortable, steady speeds and smooth sailing.

read more here