The acceleration that began yesterday has continued during the night. IDEC Sport is speeding along averaging 30 knots under the area of high pressure and after her first day at sea has covered more than 700 miles.
After setting off to tackle the Jules Verne Trophy record yesterday morning (Sunday), Francis Joyon’s crew is already down off Lisbon. Around 370 miles west of the Portuguese capital, IDEC SPORT moved to a more westerly route during the night with speeds remaining high with momenrts above 34 knots in heavy seas… A very impressive performance.
Logically, the gain or loss over the reference time set by Banque Populaire V is up and down like a yoyo, as IDEC shifts from one side of the direct route to another after sailing close to the coast to that taken by Loïck Peyron and his men during their record. The numbers do not reveal much for the moment, as Francis Joyon and his men are following their own route based on the weather conditions and not that taken by the record-holder. That is why the numbers are bouncing around from being 45 miles behind yesterday morning to getting back equal in the evening and being slightly behind this morning (15 miles).It’s all a question of angles and geometry.
That is not what counts in any case. At this point in her record, Banque Populaire had carried out three gybes, while IDEC Sport has not done any so far. What will count is the time to the Equator – which is predicted to be a record-breaking five days and then what happens afterwards in the South Atlantic. It looks likely that in the North Atlantic only one gybe will be required, as Marcel Van Triest, IDEC Sport’s router explained yesterday afternoon. With her new route heading towards the west, Francis, Bernard, Alex, Clément, Boris and Gwénolé are getting ready for this change of tack. To sum up, they are following their own route and doing very well. At 0600hrs this morning, they had already sailed 740 miles since leaving Ushant.
