The Maxi Trimaran IDEC SPORT sailed by Francis Joyon, Clément Surtel, Alex Pella, Bernard Stamm, Gwénolé Gahinet and Sébastien Audigane won the Jules Verne Trophy, the outright round the world sailing record, this morning.
Francis Joyon and his crew sailed the 22,461 theoretical miles in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds, at an average speed of 22.84 knots.
Out on the water, they actually sailed 26,412 miles at an average speed of 26.85 knots.
About Francis Joyon
Francis Joyon (born 28 May 1956) is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on IDEC SPORT (40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds), nearly five days less than the previous reference time. He held the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation from 2008 to 2016.
Although previously well known as an offshore sailor, Joyon’s real leap to international prominence came in February 2004 when the Breton became the fastest world solo yachtsman, setting a time of 72 days 22 hours and 54 minutes and 22 seconds, over 20 days faster than the previous record for a circumnavigation.
During the record run, he sailed more than 28,000 nautical miles (51,900 km) at an average speed of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h) on the 27 meters (89 ft) IDEC. IDEC, formerly known as Sport Elec, had previously taken 71 days to win the Jules Verne Trophy. Joyon took only an extra day on his own with a boat not designed for single-handed sailing, original (over 10 years old) sails, and no weather router.
