Code Green

Francis Joyon to set sail imminently from New York on solo transatlantic record attempt

The call to arms has begun for Francis Joyon, who will be crossing the starting line for the North Atlantic record at the foot of Ambrose Light this afternoon at 1800GMT. For the moment, IDEC is undergoing final preparations in Manhattan's North Cove Marina before she
sets sail.

As forecast yesterday when the data was sifted and analysed by Jean-Yves Bernot, the weather situation is relatively favourable and an attempt at the record for the crossing between Ambrose Light and The Lizard is worth trying. Francis Joyon, contacted this morning at 6h00 local time said: "I’m finishing off the final preparations, and taking one
last look at the wind charts. I should be setting sail in a northerly, once I have reached the starting line, which will take me around two hours. The low is centred in my path, but in theory it should be moving off fairly quickly and not holding me up. It is moving up and therefore the wind should back westerly and then south westerly later on.

"Ideally, I would have liked to start out in a south westerly hoping to keep it throughout the crossing: that is what we have been waiting for over the past two months, but it isn’t going to be like that, and it was time for us to take a decision! For the first stretch of the journey, I should be in a flow staying below 30 knots, and I think my route will take me slightly south to avoid getting stuck in the centre of the low, where the wind drops off. One positive thing is that the seas won’t be hindering the boat’s progress.

As far as the preparation is concerned, we had a bit of a shock, when we discovered that a boat must have hit IDEC's port float: I found a crack not far from the shroud plate. Even if the internal skin hasn’t been affected and the damage is only superficial, it’s never very nice… but there’s nothing to worry about.

The trimaran is well and truly ready and in perfect shape, so all that’s left now is to get underway. That’s something we’re going to have to have to get a move on with, as the theoretical route doesn’t leave us much margin over the record we are attempting to beat."

The dash across the Atlantic can begin…