Less than 1500 miles from the finish off Ushant, IDEC SPORT is sailing south of the Azores on a direct route towards the finish line, which they should reach in around 48 hours from now on Thursday morning. In the middle of the North Atlantic, this is the home strait now after their sprint around the world.
“The low that is moving in is bringing SW’ly winds to the Azores offering an ideal end to the voyage. It will allow us to cut straight across,” explained Gwénolé Gahinet aboard the red and grey trimaran, which in the trade winds, has already got back up to a constant speed of over 25 knots and is lapping up the miles, as we have come to expect since they set sail from Ushant. The lead over their virtual rival, the title-holder is soaring, as at this point of the voyage, Peyron and his men were forced to take a long detour via the west.
In the coming hours, Francis Joyon and his men will carry out a few gybes to move from the trade winds to the low-pressure system. They will pick up this SW’ly air stream off the Azores and head for Cape Finisterre and the Bay of Biscay and finally Brest. The cumulus clouds have been replaced by cirrus clouds with the wind starting to strengthen, promising a quick dash towards the finish line. The crew is expected to cross the line off the tip of Brittany on Thursday morning, grabbing the Jules Verne Trophy when they complete this round the world voyage.
