The IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran got straight into the pace in her attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy record.
Francis Joyon and his crew of five, Sébastien Audigane, Alex Pella, Clément Surtel, Gwénolé Gahinet and Bernard Stamm had from the outset to make the most of the weather. The strong NNE’ly wind forced them to carry out a series of gybes and change tack with the wind from astern. A tricky job, but one that was required in order to stay in the strip of wind, which will see them passing Spain and Portugal on their second day. Permanently above thirty knots, Joyon and his men, while not diving straight down, are managing to make good headway south.
The first 24 hours match the forecasts established by Francis and Marcel van Triest before they set off with around a loss of 75 miles in comparison to the pace of the title-holder Banque Populaire V. Not wishing to hang around, when there was a job to be done, Joyon’s boys decoded to give it a go and make the most of this weather opportunity, confident in the ability of their boat, which has been fine tuned since last year’s attempt.
