Joyon Expected to Finish Saturday

While we’re not sure about the stars and the planets, the major weather systems in the North Atlantic are aligning for Francis Joyon as he lines up IDEC for a final approach into Brest. Joyon split the Azores archipelago, riding the band of favorable southwesterlies flowing between the Azores High and the two low pressure systems to his north. The latter are pushing the high to the southeast, significantly shortening the number of miles Joyon needs to sail to stay in the favorable breeze, and creating an almost direct shot toward Brest. Joyon is on the throttle again, averaging about 20 knots and reeling off near-500 mile days despite the increased likelihood of pitchpoling with the deep angles he’s sailing the 97-ft trimaran.

At this pace Joyon should finish sometime Saturday night, which would put him under the 60-day mark with more than two days to spare, and a truly remarkable 13 days ahead of Ellen MacArthur’s standing record of 71 days, 14 hours. That is, of course, if Joyon can keep the weary IDEC together, successfully navigate an area with a big concentration of vessel traffic and avoid unidentified floating objects along the way. Despite his proximity to the finish, this one is far from over.