Contacted by phone this afternoon, Francis Joyon sounded very happy to be at sea and delighted with how his maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT was behaving.
“Although fully concentrating on our manoeuvres yesterday evening, we were nevertheless amazed by the incredible start to the race off Saint Nazaire. We could see the huge crowds out on the harbour walls and along the estuary. I think it was an incredible sight for everyone, at sea and on land. We are not doing so badly in these light airs against Macif, a new generation boat. Our good all rounder of a headsail is doing wonders. We made a good choice around the entrance to the Gulf of Morbihan yesterday evening knowing these waters and currents well and that really helped us. We are now on a direct route towards New York waiting for the low to take us west of Ireland. The wind will get up as will the sea. For the moment, it’s smooth sailing and the SW’ly wind is warming us up. Our crew of five has had a lot of manoeuvres to do since the start. We were all out on deck until two this morning. We are now just getting organised, as we have been so busy with headsail manoeuvres. We‘re going to be very tired when the race finishes.”
