IDEC heads to New York
Currently making a stopover for supplies in Saint Martin, the IDEC trimaran will be heading for New York this evening or on Thursday morning at the latest. Francis Joyon thinks he will arrive on the fifth of April at the Manhattan Sailing Club, where he will be staying while on stand by. From the tenth, the single-handed yachtsman and his boat will be on the starting blocks.
«Everything is fully ready. I had a trip yesterday between the south of Guadeloupe and Saint Martin, and the boat managed 22 – 24 knots in some fine trade winds. I’m here to finish loading up with supplies and finish off two or three little odd jobs.» Francis, who admits he can’t wait to get underway, is not expecting very favourable weather during the journey to New York, a short trip, which should take around 5 days. «The conditions will be fairly quiet, sailing more or less downwind at the start, and then I’ll be upwind in some stronger winds. It’s not going to be easy sailing, but it should allow me to get there in reasonable time nonetheless.» On the positive side, the equipment won’t be put under too much strain during this journey. «After having so many difficulties getting everything ready and the boat set up correctly,» the skipper said, «I’m going to try to avoid damaging anything, so there won’t be any work to do all over again in New York! Most of my work involved the rigging, deck fittings and sails, but not a lot of work needed to be done on the boat itself.» Francis, who, as usual, will be preparing the trimaran all by himself, will once again have spent many hours working on her, but this time in the sunshine in Guadeloupe, where the conditions were certainly more attractive than those you find in Brittany in winter. «If you’re dealing with the hull, it means you spend two hours a day in the water, and you often need to climb up the mast … so in short, that keeps you fit. Besides that, I also did some swimming,» explained the yachtsman, whose impatience is clear to see. However, the moment he is so looking forward to, may not be so close, as even if the boat is on stand by from 10th April, for the moment, there is no clear picture of a window of opportunity. This isn’t stopping Francis from remaining hopeful, «I can see a series of lows passing over New York, so things could get going quite quickly,» said the skipper, who never enjoys having to hang around ashore. He will at least be able to take advantage of the hospitality of North Cove Marina in the Manhattan Sailing Club, where his giant will take up position under the skyscrapers.
Atlantic record: the important figures
• New York – The Lizard route (theoretical distance calculated by the WSSRC) : 2925 miles
(5,417 km)
• Single-handed record: Laurent Bourgnon, Primagaz, 7 days 2 hours 34 minutes 42 seconds
(June 1994)
• 24-hour single handed record: Laurent Bourgnon, Primagaz, 540 miles (June 1994)
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