IDEC SPORT Approaching Equator

(January 19, 2017; Day 34; 22:00 FR) – Francis Joyon (FRA) and his five crew on the 31.5m VPLP-designed trimaran IDEC SPORT have been eating up the miles in their bid to win the Jules Verne Trophy for fastest outright time around the world.

The IDEC SPORT Maxi trimaran will soon be leaving the South Atlantic. Francis Joyon and his crew of five should be sailing into the Northern Hemisphere early this evening. This morning they are progressing at around 400 miles from the Equator keeping up speeds of around twenty knots as they head north.

They should set a new record between Ushant and the Equator shaving just under four days off the 38 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes and 48 seconds it took Loïck Peyron and his men on Banque Populaire V in 2012.

Joyon’s men will have taken around the same time in the South Atlantic as the title-holder, who was particularly quick in this stretch five years ago, when they set the record between Cape Horn and the Equator with a time of 7 days 4 hours and 27 minutes.

Rather than these official figures, it is the Doldrums that is currently weighing on the minds of the lads on the big red and grey trimaran. Joyon and his crew have already suffered in this zone before. Conditions could hold them up once again complicating the transition before they get to the steady NE’ly trade winds and the home strait to Ushant.

As they approach the Equator, their latest 24 hour run of 485.19 nm has decreased their lead to 1459.04 nm (-67 nm) ahead of the current time set in January 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his crew on the 40 VPLP-designed trimaran Banque Populaire V of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds.

Status as of 22:00 FR
Distance to Finish: 3455.11 nm
24 Hour Distance: 485.19 nm
24 Hour Speed Average: 20.2 knots
Ahead/Behind: +1459.04 nm

IDEC SPORT RACING – Tracker – Facebook

Note: The 24 hour speed record of 908.2 nm (37.84 knot average) was set in 2009 by Banque Populaire 5, a 131-foot trimaran skippered by Pascal Bidegorry (FRA).

Background:
The Jules Verne Trophy is 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.

After starting on November 16, Francis Joyon (FRA) and his five crew on the 31.5m VPLP-designed trimaran IDEC SPORT need to finish by 22:00:53 UTC on Monday January 30 to beat the current record set January 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his crew on the 40 VPLP-designed trimaran Banque Populaire V of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds.

Francis Joyon (fourth from left) and his crew comprising Clément Surtel, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet and Sébastien Audigane.

Jules Verne Trophy
Record to beat: 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds set by Loïck Peyron and his crew of 13 in January 2012 on the trimaran Banque Populaire V (40 m)
Average speed to beat: 19.75 knots
Course: around the world via the three capes, Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn.
Great circle distance: 21,600 miles
Start and finish line between Ushant (Créac’h Lighthouse and The Lizard (Cornwall).

IDEC SPORT trimaran
Trimaran with foils
Designers: VPLP
Previous names: Groupama 3, Banque Populaire VII
Initial launch: June 2006
Length: 31.50 m
Beam: 22.50 m
Displacement: 15 t
Draught: 5.70 m
Mast height: 33.50 m
Structure: carbon-nomex

Source: IDEC SPORT