Shortly after 9:30 pm, Francis Joyon and his crew cast off from the Port du Château marina in Brest. The red trimaran reached Ushant to cross the imaginary starting line linking the Créac'h lighthouse on the island of Ushant and the Lizard Cape lighthouse this Sunday, November 22, at 02 hours, 02 minutes, 22 seconds UT (or 03 hours, 02 minutes and 22 seconds French time) this Sunday, November 22, 2015.
Francis Joyon and his 5-man crew will have to return to this same line in less than 45 days if they want to win the famous Jules Verne Trophy.
Installed in the semaphore of the Pointe du Créac'h, a man was scanning the ocean: Claude Breton, the official timekeeper of the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), the international organization that validates all sailing records. He started the stopwatch just as the red trimaran crossed the start line.
The crew of Idec Sport should go very fast towards Ecuador where it is possible to improve the first intermediate time, in less than 5 days and a half. "The main objective of the first two days of racing will be to avoid breaking anything, as the sea will not be easy. Caution will be the order of the day" explains Francis Joyon.
The important question is to know what the weather will be like afterwards, when it comes to "going down" the South Atlantic. Until this morning, Francis Joyon and his router Marcel Van Triest were wondering about this. This doubt is "50% gone" according to Francis. But from now on, there are no more questions to ask. He will have to be back in less than 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds after having swallowed more than 26,000 âeuro miles on the theoretical direct route, much more in reality. All this at an average of 20 knots on the great circle route (the shortest path between two points on a sphere)
Idec Sport will therefore have to be back before January 6, 2016 at 15 hours 44 minutes 15 seconds UT. And at 8am this Sunday morning, Idec Sport was clearly accelerating, with peaks of over 30 knots. Francis Joyon and his five-man crew are now in the open sea, 200 miles west of the Loire estuary. On a trajectory almost identical to that of Loïck Peyron, IDEC SPORT is heading towards Cape Finisterre.
Coincidence or not, Loïck Peyron, the last holder of the Jules Verne Trophy also set off on November 22, 2011 at 8 hours, 31 minutes and 42 seconds UT.
Follow the Idec Sport Round the World Tour
To follow Francis Joyon's round-the-world trip, the web series "1 tour 45 days", of which you can discover the teaser at the bottom of the page, will relate the adventure of the crew.
