Solo Round-the World Sailing Record Attempt

Frenchman Francis Joyon in his trimaran IDEC has just set a new world record for the fastest solo 'downhill' time around the world, besting British Ellen MacArthur's record by an amazing 14 days.

Here, Adam Turinas compares Joyon's feat with the that achieved by the much venerated Robin Knox-Johnston when he set the first record of a solo round the world journey:

There is so much that is amazing about Francis Joyon's accomplishment. It's hard not agree with Magnus at Rule69's assertion that it's the most incredible feat in sailing in 20 years. 54 days round the world. Christ, he made it from Brittany to the Azores in two days.

It started me thinking about the Golden Globe, the first solo round-the-world race in 1968-69. Robin Knox-Johnson accomplished the same 28,000 miles in 313 days. The contrast could not be sharper. In 40 years, the same course is accomplished in 4-5 times faster. What does it say about the evolution of boat design?

OK, RKJ's Suhaili was probably the slowest boat to compete. Moitessier's steel machine Joshua would have overtaken RKJ if he'd stayed in the race. The trimarans could have won if the boats or their skippers hadn't fallen apart.

Suhaili was (is actually as it's at the National Maritime Museum-Cornwall) a 14 ton teak-hulled Bermuda ketch built in Bombay. Technically her dimensions are 32 ft long and 11.5 ft abeam, but she is really 44ft long as she has a large bowsprit. She was built in 1923 based on the lines of a Norwegian sailing ketch.

IDEC is a 97 feet long, 54 feet wide, 11 ton foiling trimaran carrying 5,597 sq feet of sail. She has a 105 ft carbon mast and a composite hull. She was built in Lorient and designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Caberet based on, well - based on something someone saw in Star Wars. OK I am being facetious but the difference philosophy is pretty clear. According to Joyon, IDEC is : “the best compromise between the search for power and my capacity to manage what I will have under my hand... and I am certain, right now, that this IDEC will require more vigilance and anticipation that its predecessor! As a balance though, the fact that we have been able to lengthen the stem of central hull and add more volume means that I will be able to face the long Southern Ocean surfings – the main black spot - with relative serenity!”

Robin Knox-Johnson bought the best boat he could afford that he felt would make it round the world safely.

During the Golden Globe, RKJ lived off mostly corned beef, baked beans. He took a small library and a correspondence course with him. He slept soundly for long parts of the trip, when he was out of the shipping lanes and the weather was fair. For some bizarre reason, his father handed him a gun and ammo before he departed. From what I can tell, the only modern technology he carried was a radio.

I am not sure what Joyon eat but I doubt it weighed much. From the reports I read, he rested for minutes but seldom slept for most of the 54 days. His bubble of a cabin was utilitarian and stripped down to bare essentials. I am sure that he carried advanced weather instruments, radio and GPS but nothing but what was needed for the way he would be racing.

In storm conditions, RKJ, trawled drogues, chains, well just about anything he could to slow the boat in the big waves. His theory was that the boat was so heavy that it was unlikely to be capsized so he let the waves wash past him. It clearly worked for him.

On IDEC, I am sure Joyon, surfed. I can only imagine how fast he must have been traveling in the really big stuff. You can just picture him planning on his foils at speeds that would scare the proverbial out of mere mortals like me.

In this latest circumnavigation, Joyon's hit speeds of 25.6 kts and bested his average speed in 2004 on 15.5 kts by averaging 19.1 kts on the water. RKJ average speed was 3.39 kts.

There is a fascinating paradox. Sailing is one of the oldest forms of transport but has evolved so much in 40 years that boats can travel long distance 400-500% faster. Is there any other form of transportation that has evolved as much?

There were fast cars, jet planes, space rockets, motorbikes in 1968. No doubt they perform better now than they did in 1968, but 5 times better? No way!

God I love sailing!

To read more by Adam Turinas, go to his Messing about in Sailboats blog

…courtesy Sail-World http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/

Francis Joyon, Sailing History

Having been professionally involved with the sport of sailing for over 30 years, I feel very privileged to have witnessed, first hand in many cases, sailing history in the making. To be able to say I was there’ when against all odds Tabarly won the 1976 OSTAR with Mike Birch’s diminutive Third Turtle just behind him or when Ellen MacArthur finished 2nd in the Vendée Globe is something very special. The list is long, from events like the 2001 Jubilee Regatta, when the first 500+ mile 24-hour run was recorded, or when Alinghi walked away with the America’s Cup in 2003.

However disparate, for me each one of these events had something in common. As they unfolded I just knew I was witnessing something very special and that history was being written, sometimes in extraordinary fashion. And none is more extraordinary than the events that have been played out over the last few weeks — the phenomenon that is Francis Joyon.

When, in February 2004, sailing an earlier IDEC Francis Joyon completed his solo attempt more than 20 days quicker than the previous record holder most observers, myself included, commented that 72 days would be a record that would stand for a long time. We were proved wrong when the redoubtable Ellen MacArthur, shaved a day off it and in a boat over 2Oft shorter just 12 months later. Surely the limit had been reached?

Back in 2004 commented that Francis Joyon had not just beaten the record, he had taken an axe to it. Now the taciturn Breton has done it again.

57 days 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds. That’s an average speed of nearly 20 knots, or 480 miles every 24 hours (around the world!!). To put that in perspective, it’s over 20 days faster than the first sub-80 day fully crewed record set in 1993 and just a few hours faster than the mighty Cheyenne, again fully crewed, in 2004. And it has knocked 14 days off Ellen’s record. Sadly, I was not able to be in Brest to welcome him back, but I do know that I’ve witnessed one of the greatest sailing achievements of all times.

Andrew Bray
Editor, Yacht World Magazine
March 2008 Issue


Brian added:
This issue of Yachting World has a great article on this crowning achevement and the man himself...both pictures and text....well worth the reading