Green lights all the way home

Weather scenario looking near perfect for Joyon record

Position at 08:15: 15deg 55.00N 34deg 52.00W
Distance to finish: 2,435 miles
Distance from start: 24564.58 miles
Speed/course: 13.3 knots /356°

There seems to be no stopping Francis Joyon. After crossing the Equator early Friday morning, this weekend saw the burly Frenchman tick off the Doldrums seemingly without missing a beat. Saturday through to Sunday morning he clocked up an impressive 349 miles while from 0900 yesterday until 0815 today he sailed a further 309.
Remarkably Joyon's weather god not only continues to smile upon him but seem about to give him a big big bonus.

Looking ahead the Azores high which Joyon would normally have to skirt round adding considerable miles to his journey has conveniently stepped aside. At present it is centred just to the north of Canaries and looks set to remain this way pretty much for the rest of the week. Because of this it looks like Joyon will be able to sail virtually down the rhumbline to Cape Finistere chopping hundreds of miles off his route.

Joyon is presently sailing in the Trades but these are more easterly than northeasterly. Tomorrow he will see a big shift as the wind veers round to the south and come Tuesday night he will be completely truckin' with 15-20 knots from the southwest. How lucky is that? By Wednesday morning the wind appears to be due west before backing slightly to southwest and building to 20-25 knots.

It gets better. With the north Atlantic high pressure off by the African coast, the void this has created looks set to be filled come Thursday by a massive depression heading across the north Atlantic and the reach of this will be such that Joyon could very well see 35 knot southwesterlies - Southern Ocean conditions! The peculiar conditions in the north Atlantic will at one point later in the week see strong westerlies across the breadth of the north Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland (a shame no one is making a record attempt between New York and the Lizard...) From this long term forecast it looks possible that Joyon will not only be able to lay the mark from tomorrow night onwards, but he could enjoy favourable running or reaching conditions until he reaches France.

If this forecast holds true then Joyon could very well be in line for an even faster circumnavigation than we dared hope. Barring disaster 73 days looks possible.