On Code Amber since Wednesday, in other words ready to set sail to tackle the Jules Verne Trophy aboard the maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT, along with his troops, (Clément Surtel, Alex Pella, Boris Herrmann, Bernard Stamm and Gwénolé Gahinet), Francis Joyon is bristling with impatience watching the weather forecasts. The opportunity they were looking at for Saturdays still looks interesting. Enough in any case for the team to continue with final preparations in Brest, stowing supplies aboard.
There is still some uncertainty about two tricky points in this crewed round the world voyage: the transition between the Portuguese trade winds and the Canaries, and the fact that the St. Helena high remains a long way south.
“US and European models differ,” explained Francis. “According to the Americans, we could get a good time to the Equator. European forecasters are less certain. We’re going to have to study all the charts and se how they evolve, leaving it to the last moment to decide on Friday evening, if Marcel van Triest, our router, confirms a favourable evolution. While the position of the St. Helena high isn’t perfect, it may well move in the coming days. If it does as we want, it would be favourable.”
“These are stressful moment,” added Francis. “I’ve been through this before. Particularly on my first solo attempt with the first IDEC trimaran. I really want to set off on Saturday morning.”
