At 1700hrs UTC on Friday 20th November, Francis Joyon – after discussions with his router, Marcel Van Triest – decided to return to red alert, which means that IDEC SPORT is now not planning to start her round the world voyage this weekend.
Francis Joyon explained the situation this afternoon: “The real problem is what happens after the Equator. The situation seems clear enough in the North Atlantic, but that is no longer the case in the Southern Atlantic. On top of that, the sea conditions are boat-breaking in the Bay of Biscay. In other words, it would be a bit of a gamble. We can’t get this wrong. There’s no point in speeding along in then first few days, if we then encounter an unfavourable situation after that.”
