On her 40th day at sea, sailing off Salvador da Bahia, around 4000 miles from the finishing line for the Jules Verne Trophy to the north of Ushant, the IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran is back up to the sort of speed close to her real potential.
Throughout the night, Joyon and his crew of five sailed at between 25 and 30 knots following the shifts in a SE’ly trade wind that is still rather unsteady, but is stronger than initially forecast. Hour by hour, Idec Sport is therefore reducing the deficit she has built up in comparison to the record holder, Banque Populaire V, which yesterday evening had reached 1350 miles. They regained a hundred miles during the night with the big, red trimaran heading due north directly towards the Equator. This highly symbolic line will mark the end of the painful South Atlantic, which was so merciless for the record hunters, who found themselves blocked by the huge St. Helena high. They still have more than 800 miles to sail before entering the Northern Hemisphere and with the trade wind continuing to strengthen, Joyon, Surtel, Herrmann, Pella, Stamm and Gahinet should enter the final stretch tomorrow evening, as they head back to Brittany. Franck Cammas and his crew of nine on Groupama 3, which became IDEC SPORT, took 6 days 10 hours and 44 minutes to sail from the Equator to Ushant during their winning Jules Verne in 2010.
