387 miles to go

Francis Joyon shortly to go into the record books

Position at 05:50: 44deg 37.00N 12deg 40.00 W
Distance sailed: 26738.74 nautical miles
Speed and course: 18.54 knots /55°

Francis Joyon on board his 90ft trimaran IDEC is back up to record demolishing pace. In the 20 or so hours between 1000 yesterday and 0550 this morning the Frenchman covered a rapid 373 miles, leaving him with 387 miles left to go before he reaches the finish line off Brest. If Joyon maintains this pace he should cross the finish line at around 0300 tomorrow morning.

Conditions are still lively with a 35 knot SSWerly breeze that at times could exceed 40 knots. Fortunately at the speeds Joyon is sailing, the apparent wind will be substantially less than this.

Yesterday Francis Joyon gave an update in his progress: "I made good headway last night. I've covered over 400 miles which puts me at around 780 miles from the finish. I'll easily be there by Tuesday morning.

"Yesterday I hoisted the large gennaker and managed to furl it in with the calm downwind of the islands. That enabled me to put it away. During the night I reverted back to my small sails. I gybed yesterday and am now on a course of 60°… At this angle the float is in the water. It must have taken on 300 / 400 litres, but I can't go any further round. It's the red zone there. I can't go on, or pump water or keep an eye on it when it's downwind and the boat goes quickly like that.

"I'll stay on a starboard tack until the end. The wind will go up to 35-40 knots tomorrow afternoon and will begin to strengthen tonight. I just have to let myself be carried along."

"I'm trying to limit the risk of collision by going quicker during the day and slowing down at night. In the North Atlantic there are quite a few things floating in the water nonetheless. As there are a lot of cargo ships there are also containers as well as logs which fall overboard in rough weather … That's a fair amount of potential dangers for boats. By day the risk is reduced but you're certainly never very relaxed with cargo ships around : I passed one yesterday. I have a radar detector on board and yet it didn't have it's radar on in the middle of the North Atlantic! We're used to our well-equipped cargo ships with competent crews but you have to realise that there are still boats around without any legislation or equipment! It seems to be a trend and it's a real shame…you get the impression that the guys travel under automatic pilot and that even if they see an obstacle, they're not competent enough to reflect on the adequate trajectory. All that to say that I'm trying to go quickly during the day and to limit the risks at night!

"I sleep in the dog-house more often than not. It's easier to keep watch and get on deck if need be. I'm really surprised by the temperature… At the same latitude in the southern hemisphere, despite it being the summer there, it was colder than it is here which is pretty impressive! I'm currently at 41° north and it's really mild! As for the finish well, I've made quite a few in Brittany! But at sea it's never the same twice over. That's what's magical... "