Joyon goes amber

Another round the world departure imminent

Yesterday in La Trinite-sur-Mer, Francis Joyon and Patrice Lafargue, chairman of IDEC, officially launched Joyon bid to break the singlehanded round the world record eastabout (as opposed to Jean-Luc van den Heede, who is going in the opposite direction).

With his large red trimaran as a backdrop, Joyon, winner of the last Europe 1 New Man STAR announced that his boat was ready and that his departure was likely to be in around eight days time.

"I remain fixed on a possible departure as from 15 November, as envisaged initially," commented Joyon. "Of course, the weather conditions will determine my exact plan."

In the intervening period Joyon will test out his boat's new rudder and roller furling gear, the latter fitted as part of a small modification to make it more possible to sail this 90 footer singlehanded. "Recenttly I have been so impatient that I put the pressure on my suppliers saying that if they were not ready in time, then so much the worse them - I would leave with the old gear!" jokes Joyon.

"Seriously," continues Joyon, known in the UK for holding the outright round the island reecord, "the boat is ready, the electronics and the pilots are up and running, the program is on schedule. I wanted to leave a few days clear as I did not want to have to do some last minute and hazardous do-it-yourself just before my departure."

"I gave a phone call to Jean-Luc to exchange our e-mail addresses before he set sail. We want to avoid colliding in the south! Very 'maths teacher', he told me that the probability was very small...

Joyon's sponsor IDEC, (Engineering Development Environment Construction), is based in Blois, and offers project management for commerical offices, warehouses, buildings.