A third win for Eure et Loire

Francis Joyon shows a penchant for British races

Joyon seemed to be in fine form on his arrival despite getting less than two hours of sleep for the race. Of sailing with Rodney Pattisson, Joyon was impressed. He has known Pattisson since he bought the 60ft trimaran Paragon from a consortium Pattisson was part of and earlier this year they sailed together on their record breaking Round the Island Race trip. "He has a very good feeling with steering," said Joyon. "He is very good for tactics. He is very complete. Generally Olympic sailors don't like to go offshore in big waves."

Of the record Joyon said it had seemed unlikely he would break Loick Peyron's record from two years ago. "We were interested in breaking the record but we had to tack all along the coast." In the end they were just two hours outside of Loick Peyron's two year old Fastnet record.

Pattisson, now 58, was in fine form, face covered in dried salt, unshaven and smelling slightly ripe in an ancient fleece top dating back to the Acapulco Olympics in 1968 when he won a Gold medal in the Flying Dutchman. "It is a fantastic experience sailing a 60 foot tri. It is really enjoyable and I've always thought that since I used to sail Paragon. The speed and the thrill and the sensation of sailing them - it's like a drug, it just hooks you. I'm sure the Volvo 60s are fun to sail, but I don't think they've had a lot of fun out there. We have though. While they're all getting drenched on the weather rail we're all up on the weather float keeping dry."

Pattisson said that he was also impressed by how the trimarans had evolved since he used to sail Paragon in the mid-1980s. "In Paragon we were doing 12 knots upwind. You crack off three degrees and suddenly you're doing 18 knots."

Although since his OSTAR win last year there have been rumours of Joyon getting a new trimaran, he says this is not the case. He prefers the easy life. "I will keep this boat until the Route de Rhum (next year). You have a lot of problems when you build a new boat and I don't like problems," he says with a smile. "We had a new mast and we had so many problems with that..." After a shower in the Royal Western Yacht Club and a meal, the Brits disembarked Eure et Loir which headed back to her homeport of La Trinite-sur-Mer with just Coville and Joyon, next door neighbours in the small Breton town of Locmariaquer, on board.

Meanwhile Rodney Pattisson is rushing back to Cowes to start training on board the classic yacht Thendara in readiness for the America's Cup Jubilee regatta.