Joyon crosses line

Maxi-trimaran attempt on the non-stop round the world record gets underway

Francis Joyon aboard the maxi-trimaran IDEC embarked on his solo non-stop round the world voyage this morning at 08:59:54 local time in France (07:59:54GMT) from a line just off the mouth of the Rade de Brest.

The big trimaran crossed the line under full main and solent, hitting speeds of 20 knots, her start time officially recorded by Claude Breton of the World Speed Sailing Record Council.

Joyon is attempting to break the existing westabout non-stop record of 93 days 3 hours 57 minutes and 32 seconds set by Michel Desjoyeaux on board the Open 60 PRB in the last Vendee Globe. By our calculation Joyon must complete his circumnavigation before 23 February 11:57:26 if he is to break Desjoyeaux's record.

Success will see Joyon join a tiny handful of individuals to attempt the non-stop round the world record in a multihull.

Nigel Tetley almost made it during the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race over 1968-69 which Robin Knox-Johnston won in a time of 313 days. However believing Donald Crowhurst to be ahead of him Tetley drove his plywood Victress too hard. After just over eight months at sea, his trimaran broke up, frustratingly just 1,100 miles short of the finish line.

Following Tetley and shortly before constructing the 236ft four master Club Mediterranee to sail singlehanded in the 1976 OSTAR, legendary French offshore sailor Alain Colas sailed around the world aboard the 70ft trimaran Manureva (former Eric Tabarly's Pen Duick IV). Setting off on 8 September 1973 Colas managed the passage in a time of 169 days, but this included a month long stopover in Sydney.

Over 1986-7 Philippe Monnet took the time down to 129 days 19 hours 17 minutes and 8 seconds sailing the 80ft Kriter Brut de Brut. This boat was originally built for and campaigned by Olivier de Kersauson under the name Jacques Ribourel. Monnet also made stops - in Cape Town (for around 59 hours), Bluff, New Zealand (8 hours) and Sao Miguel (1hr 30 minutes). Monnet is said to have completed his circumnavigation according to the 'rules' for record breaking passages of this type - that the sailor must never get off the boat. However contrary to this there were rumours that Monnet had been spotted in a restaurant in Bluff!

In 1988-9 Olivier de Kersauson sailed his 75ft trimaran Un Autre Regard around the world in a time of 125 days 19 hours 32 minutes and 33 seconds. De Kersauson made two stops, the first in Cape Town, the second in Punta del Este. Like Monnet De Kersauson made short pitstops, but again a question mark remains over whether or not his record qualifies as 'non-stop' under the rules laid down by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.

This became academic as less than a year later the non-stop record fell to a monohull, when Titouan Lamazou aboard the Open 60 monohull Ecureuil d'Aquitaine II won the first Vendee Globe Challenge in a time of 109 days. Since then the record has been lowered by consecutive Vendee Globe winners whittled down to Desjoyeaux's current 93 day bench mark set in 2001.

So what chance does Joyon stand of beating Desjoyeaux's time? On paper it looks more than possible. Compared to Desjoyeaux's Open 60, IDEC is a 90ft long trimaran at times capable of sailing more than 50% faster than the Open 60. However while the boat capable of this it is unlikely that Joyon will be able to sail her as efficiently as Desjoyeaux was able to sail his Open 60.

In fact the boat Joyon is sailing is the same one in which de Kersauson made the attempt in 1988-9, albeit much modified. The boat was originally built at 75ft in 1985 to a design by Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost when she was metallic pink and called Poulain. De Kersauson campaigned her in all the 'circuit' events of the day such as the Route du Rhum (when it allowed boats of this size) and the Round Europe Race.

During the 1990s the boat underwent a number of modifications optimising her for sailing her non-stop fully crewed around the world in the Jules Verne Trophy. This included the fitting of a new rig and also lengthing her to 90ft. In this configuration and renamed Sport Elec, Olivier de Kersauson and his crew after several aborted attempts set the Jules Verne Trophy record time of 71 days 14 hours 22 minutes and 8 seconds in 1997 (prior to it be demolished last year by Bruno Peyron and the crew of Orange who set the present record of 64 days 8 hours 37 minutes and 24 seconds).

So Joyon's boat has made it round the world in 71 days fully crewed and in 125 days when a smaller incarnation of her was taken around by de Kersauson. It will be fascinating to see if Joyon is capable of driving the boat hard enough to break 93 days. The boat is a monster for a singlehanded sailor and much will depend upon how well she hangs together. A lot will depend upon the refit Joyon has just had carried out on the boat and the amount of sea time he has had in her since.

Personally Joyon is more than qualified to be sailing IDEC. He has been campaigning 60ft trimarans, for more than a decade. Originally he was the skipper for Banque Populaire and had a sistership to Loick Peyron's original Fujicolor built. Not wanting to take part in Grand Prix Joyon was replaced as the Banque Populaire skipper but kept his boat which has become well known in the UK for winning the Round the Island race and also the Rolex Fastnet Race. Joyon's biggest coup came in 2000 when up against all the heavily sponsored French trimarans - including a new Banque Populaire - he won the Europe 1 New Man STAR, very much against the odds. Joyon is burly, something of a tough-nut loner but also resourceful and highly experienced in sailing large multihulls singlehanded fast.

One person who will be watching Joyon's attempt keenly will no doubt be Ellen MacArthur. While she has yet to commit to sailing this course it is highly likely that Ellen will also make an attempt on this record on board her new trimaran B&Q that has been purpose-built solo record breaking.

Also interesting about Joyon's attempt is the course. Traditionally round the world records are set on the Jules Verne Trophy course, ie starting and finishing on the Ouessant-Lizard line. Joyon starting off Brest makes for a slightly shorter course, but longer than that of the Vendee Globe which starts and finishes in Les Sables d'Olonne further south down France's Biscay coast.

Under the World Sailing Speed Record Council's a voyage qualifying as a 'round the world passage' "must start and return to the same point, must cross all meridians of longitude and must cross the Equator." The orthoadromic track must be at least 21,600 miles. The Jules Verne Trophy course is recorded as being 21,760 miles.

Thanks to Christian Fevrier for the preparation of this article