IDEC SPORT is facing a long, slow, tricky passage in an area of high pressure on this 27th day of the attempt to smash the Jules Verne Trophy record.
Francis Joyon and his men took advantage right to the end of the remnants of a small area of low pressure to continue downwind towards the SE. Today they have to find their way through the light airs of the high, where the point of sail could shift from downwind to close reaching to upwind. The talent of the men at the helm to anticipate the slightest shifts will determine the ability of the big, red trimaran to get to the more powerful air stream circulating at around 53 or 54 degrees south. IDEC SPORT will probably be facing her worst day since leaving Brest, with her progress towards Cape Horn looking particularly poor because of the slow speed and the e fact that they are heading due south, which is far from the direct route. Banque Populaire V rounded Cape Horn on 30th December 2011 after 32 days, 11 hours and 51 minutes, setting an intermediate reference time, which remains the record. How long will it take Joyon, Pella, Herrmann, Surtel, Stamm and Gahinet to get to the famous rock, which lies some 2300 miles from their bows? We might get an idea this evening, depending on how generous or mean the elements are, of when the crew will manage to get away from an ocean that has been rather too pacific for their liking…
