Joyon sets sail again

French legend to set off on Route of Discovery record tomorrow

Nine months after he set an incredible solo around the world record, Francis Joyon is set to return to the sea aboard his maxi trimaran IDEC, this time to go tackle the Route of Discovery record from Cadiz, Spain to San Salvador in the Bahamas, currently held by Thomas Coville since 2005 aboard the ORMA 60 Sodebo with a time of 10 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes and 20 seconds.

The time of departure, dependent on the weather, is not yet exactly fixed but it will be sometime early tomorrow morning or tonight, when the Joyon will set sail singlehanded on 3,884 mile passage across the Atlantic via the Canary Island.

The start will be tough. The router-navigator Jean-Yves Bernot, back in service again since the round the world, explains: "It must start tomorrow morning for a good NNW flow of 25 to 30 knots. That will be a favorable wind angle and a route is relatively short at the beginning of the record, perhaps taking a day and a half to reach the Canaries. The situation remains favourable to the middle of the Atlantic, then it is more complicated and it is too early to talk about."

One of the difficulties of the Route of Discovery record is indeed finding the right downwind conditions to depart in. "At this time of year" explains Bernot, "the Azores high is large making for a long route to the south, where there is sure to be wind all the time. Here we are in an intermediate situation with an anticyclone split into two which offers the advantage of a more direct route and faster with a better angle, but also a delicate transition zone, probably on day six. "

To break the record requires Joyon to sail at an average speed greater than 15.5 knots but this is down the direct route and the French legend reckons he will be required to permanently keep the speedometer over 22 knots. He also feels that the old Sodebo may have been faster than IDEC in winds below 15 knots, although above this, the reverse is true.