IDEC SPORT: Heading into the wind

(December 27, 2015; Day 36) – Off the coast of Uruguay, after a very slow night, the 31.5m maxi trimaran Idec Sport has picked up speed this morning in their quest for the Jules Verne Trophy. The men on IDEC SPORT now face three days of tacking upwind.

The fight is on. The men are battling it out in calm patches. As they clocked up their 35th day at sea during the night, they were sailing in a wind hole. “Sometimes we were down to less than three knots,” explained Francis Joyon on the link-up this Sunday lunchtime.

DSC_9008After 24 hours, which were as difficult as forecast, things have improved this morning. IDEC SPORT has found some wind again and her performance is back up to what we have come to expect from her with speeds around twenty knots. “We’ve picked up some wind,” explained Francis Joyon, “but now we are heading straight into the wind. That means we’ll be tacking upwind for the around three days to make progress towards the north.” It is only after that that “we’ll then have an easterly wind.”

The ETA at the Equator will of course be affected by this tricky climb back up the South Atlantic, unless the high moves back to the east. Meanwhile, on board the big, red trimaran, the crew is beginning to appreciate warmer temperatures as they make their way back to more clement latitudes.

As of 21:00 UTC
Distance to finish: 5101.51 nm
Distance for 24 hours: 217.72 nm
Distance ahead of record: -658.50 nm

Source: IDEC SPORT

Team website – Tracker – Facebook

Background: IDEC SPORT has entered 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 04:01:58 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/

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