Please select your home edition
Edition
Ocean Safety 2023 - New Identity - LEADERBOARD

Francis Joyon shatters the Mauritius Route record

by Agence Mer & Media 8 Nov 2019 13:43 GMT
Francis Joyon shattered the Mauritius Route record © Jonathan Beukman / IDEC Sport

Francis Joyon has just beaten his own record set ten years ago in this stretch of the Route to the Indies referred to as the Mauritius Route and made it all look so easy.

19 days, 18 hours, 14 minutes and 45 seconds, or an improvement of six days and 10 hours in comparison to ten years ago. The Mauritius Route started from Port Louis in Brittany with part of the round the world route that Francis knows so well having sailed it many times both alone and with a crew. The route then took him up the Indian Ocean with all its difficulties to another Port Louis, this one being the capital of Mauritius.

8950 miles of sailing on paper, which for Francis turned into almost 11,000 miles out on the water, and which he sailed averaging 23.2 knots. This performance pleased the skipper, who was happy to arrive with his IDEC SPORT in perfect condition. He was delighted with the route taken as this will allow him to respect the demanding schedule of the Asian Tour, which will see him sail on other magical routes in the coming months.

A weather opportunity that was far from ideal

"For this record, I had two things weighing on my mind," the winner of the last Route du Rhum and the holder of the Jules Verne trophy said at the finish. "There was the pressure of getting a good result, as usual when you are racing against the clock. I didn't have the pressure on me from rivals like I did in the Route du Rhum, but I needed to keep up to schedule for what lies ahead in the Asian Tour, which will take us to Vietnam and then China. I didn't want to mess that up by arriving here behind schedule."

This simple statement made with his usual modesty hides Francis's insatiable appetite for racing against the clock and dealing with all the elements. At the start on 19th October, this record was far from being a certainty: "Our weather opportunity was far from ideal," he said. "As was later confirmed, there was nothing really interesting coming up in the next few days or weeks. We needed to get going in order to stick to the schedule for the Asian sailing programme."

It took IDEC SPORT just over seven days and two hours to get to the Equator. An 'average sort of time', according to the skipper, considering the times he achieved over the past few years sailing solo or with a crew. But it already meant that he was more than a day ahead of the pace he set for the record back in 2009.

A long detour to get around the St Helena high

The St Helena high stretched right out to the coast of Brazil and was a huge challenge, but one that Francis was able to deal with. The SE'ly trade winds propelled IDEC SPORT a long way west on a long detour of the calms blocking the path in the middle of the South Atlantic.

IDEC SPORT headed towards the south-west a long way from the direct route, and lost some time in so doing. On the eleventh day of racing, he was a few miles behind the pace (up to 27) set by the second IDEC boat, which was able to trace a decent arc across the South Atlantic in 2009.

A high speed transatlantic crossing

That was when the extraordinary happened in this adventure. With the help of his onshore router, Christian Dumard, Francis noticed that a powerful low pressure system was developing off the coast of Uruguay, which would allow him to get back up with the speeds achieved with a crew during his successful Jules Verne Trophy attempt in 2017.

"I set off at the front of the low, which was moving quickly eastwards. Christian and I thought it would quickly drop us off as moving so fast and that I would have to wait for many long hours before a second system appeared, which also looked good." But as the hours passed, I managed to stick on the northern edge with its strong NW'ly air stream and IDEC SPORT behaved remarkably again, clocking up days in excess of 600 miles, managing to convince the skipper that there was the possibility of sticking with that system all the way.

"This meant a gain of two days by the Cape of Good Hope," explained Francis, "So I hung on in there." It is hard to imagine the effort it took to achieve this during the record. "As forecast, the low passed him by," added Christian Dumard admiring this feat. "Francis found himself in strong and variable winds, in excess of thirty knots and more importantly in heavy seas whipped up by the low. But he managed to stick with it adjusting the angle of the wind to the boat and spending time at the helm to position his giant trimaran on the crest of the enormous waves in the Southern Ocean. "It is rare that we are able to take advantage of a weather system for so long," said Francis, who was clearly delighted.

"We managed to do that with the crew of IDEC SPORT in the Jules Verne Trophy." But it must have taken a huge effort. Francis admits he suffered seeing his boat suffer. "She jumped from wave to wave, making noises I had never heard before. The night before the Cape of Good Hope was the worst with a thirty foot swell. I was tired, but had to keep going. That was when the record was achieved."

Francis over the moon

However, Joyon states that at no point did he think he had gone too far, as happened last year in the Route du Rhum. "I always kept a small amount back. I never pushed the boat all the way. I needed to look after her for what lies ahead and I managed to do that. I'm pleased with the route I took and how the weather systems slotted into place. It was a long journey, but in the terms of the weather, it wasn't bad. When I finished this morning, I caught sight of land for the first time since I set off. There was incredible light, the turquoise waters and the islands..." Francis was clearly in his element.

Related Articles

Francis Joyon and crew back on the Discovery Route
IDEC Sport to attack Spindrift's record between Cadiz and San Salvador Francis Joyon, supported as usual by his faithful teammates, Bertrand Delesne, Bernard Stamm, Antoine Blouet and Christophe Houdet, will be donning his record-hunter's suit at the beginning of October, in an attempt to beat the reference time set in 2013. Posted on 14 Sep 2021
Joyon and crew complete Tea Route in record time
The new reference time is 31 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes and 46 seconds The IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran sailed by Francis Joyon, Bertrand Delesne, Christophe Houdet, Antoine Blouet and Corentin Joyon, set a new record for the Tea Route between Hong Kong and London this morning. Posted on 19 Feb 2020
Joyon and crew shatter Tea Route record
IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran arrives in London The IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran sailed by Francis Joyon, Bertrand Delesne, Christophe Houdet, Antoine Blouet and Corentin Joyon completed the Tea Route voyage between Hong Kong and London this morning (Wednesday 19th February). Posted on 19 Feb 2020
IDEC Sport ahead of forecast
Joyon heading back up north off the coast of Western Australia On a route that they deliberately prolonged by almost 1500 miles in comparison to the Great Circle Route, the IDEC SPORT maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT has managed to get ahead of what was forecast by taking a long route down towards 37 degrees South. Posted on 25 Nov 2019
IDEC Sport's great adventure
A new experience in waters that are rarely visited by ocean racing boats The IDEC SPORT sailed by Francis Joyon, Antoine Blouet, Bertrand Delesne, Christophe Houdet and Corentin Joyon set off on a new adventure yesterday, a new challenge, a new experience in waters that are rarely visited by modern ocean racing boats. Posted on 22 Nov 2019
IDEC Sport heads for Vietnam
Francis Joyon and crew tackle the second Act of the Asian Tour 4000 miles of sailing lie ahead of the bows of the giant IDEC SPORT, as she heads towards Vietnam and its capital Ho Chi Minh City. Posted on 21 Nov 2019
Joyon to tackle Leg 2 of IDEC Sport Asian Tour
This is another record attempt, Mauritius to Vietnam Twelve days after completing the first act in his IDEC Sport Asian Tour, when he smashed the Mauritius Route record by more than six days, Francis Joyon is about to tackle the second leg of the voyage taking him to Asia. Posted on 19 Nov 2019
Newsflash: Francis Joyon's win in Mauritius
IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran shatters the Mauritius Route record The skipper of the IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran shattered the Mauritius Route record between Port Louis (Brittany) and Port Louis (Mauritius) at 0726hrs local time (0326hrs UTC) on Friday 8th November). Posted on 8 Nov 2019
Mauritius Route record: The final stretch
He is now on a straight line almost due north towards the finish in Port Louis IDEC SPORT has changed weather systems, with very different winds and temperatures. He can put away the fleeces and foulies and forget the violent winds and astonishing speeds. Posted on 6 Nov 2019
Mauritius Route record: Joyon continues to speed
The huge improvement has not led Francis Joyon to ease off or modify the pace The huge improvement in the reference time between Port Louis and the Cape of Good Hope (two days and 19 hours) achieved yesterday has not led Francis Joyon to ease off or modify the pace he has set since moving away from the coast of South America. Posted on 4 Nov 2019