IDEC SPORT: Surviving the Hellish Night

(November 29, 2015; Day 8) – It was a complicated night during which IDEC SPORT found herself becalmed in light airs, but the wind has finally arrived in the area. The lead over the record pace has nearly disappeared, but the main thing is the big, red trimaran is sailing south at high speed again: 30 knots this afternoon.

After a “hellish” night, as Francis Joyon referred to it, “with continual manoeuvres to try to find the wind, fighting hard to advance at three knots,” things have changed this afternoon. Beyond the ridge of clouds that they could see this morning at 1000hrs, the new wind blowing at 15-20 knots has been happily welcomed by the men on IDEC SPORT.

The adventure has only just begun and the six sailors on IDEC SPORT are far from finished, as it is not here in the trip down the South Atlantic where there are gains to be made. They can above all lose ground here, but it is in the Indian and Pacific, and in the climb back up the Atlantic (North and South) that they can hope to overtake the record-holder.

For the moment, they should be pleased they are out of this trap and that the boat is moving well again.

As of 2200 UTC
Distance to finish: 18440.54 nm
Distance for 24 hours: 401.63 nm
Distance ahead of record: 1.37 nm

Source: IDEC SPORT

The crew of IDEC SPORT:
Francis Joyon (FRA)
Bernard Stamm (SUI)
Gwénolé Gahinet (FRA)
Alex Pella (ESP)
Clément Surtel (FRA)
Boris Herrmann (GER)

Team website – Tracker – Facebook

Background: IDEC SPORT is seeking to claim the Jules Verne Trophy, a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew, starting and finishing between the Le Créac’h Lighthouse off the tip of Brittany and the Lizard Point in Cornwall.

Francis Joyon (FRA), skippering the 31.5m VPLP-designed trimaran, crossed the start line on November 22 at 02:02:22 GMT, and his 6-man team must return by 15:44:15 UTC on January 6, 2016 to beat the current record set January 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his crew on Banque Populaire V of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds.

MORE: Also starting on November 22 (at 4:01:58 GMT) for an attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy was the 40m VPLP-designed Spindrift 2, led by Yann Guichard. The 14-person team must return before 17:43:51 GMT on January 6, 2016 to beat the record. Here’s a tracker showing both teams: http://volodiaja.net/Tracking/