Francis Joyon leaves La Trinité sur Mer and heads to Spain
Maxi trimaran IDEC SPORTleft its home port this morning of La Trinité sur Mer, en route to Algeciras, in southern Spain, where IDEC Group is building a huge sustainable, providing positive energy, logistics park.
Francis Joyon is at the helm of his loyal IDEC Sport multihull and is making the long 1,000 mile journey in the company of some of his key crew, Bernard Stamm, Antoine Blouet and Corentin Joyon. The crew will disembark in Spain and Bertrand Delesne, Boat Captain, and Christophe Houdet, tasked with reaching Algeciras by road, will then join Joyon on board.
Once the IDEC Group corporate sailing and hospitality operations in Andalusia conclude, the Route du Rhum winner will head for Puerto Sherry near Cadiz, where they will begin the stand-by period waiting for the right conditions for an attempt to break the Discovery Route record, the historic route that links Spain to San Salvador in the Bahamas.
Public Relations operations in Algeciras
It is therefore by road that Bertrand Delesne, in charge of the technical operations of maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT since 2018, will reach Andalusia. “Corentin Joyon will disembark in Algeciras, where we will make a brief stay for operations to promote the “Puerto Seco Andalousia” park project developed by the IDEC Group. The crew of Antoine (Blouet), Bernard (Stamm), Christophe (Houdet) and myself will then be complete,” explains the former Mini sailor, who is very interested in the start of the 23rd edition of the Mini-Transat this weekend. “Our Discovery Route will closely follow that of the Mini 6.50, via the Canary Islands and towards the West Indies. This route is really very attractive. It’s the optimum downwind course and the most enjoyable way of sailing; also the fastest for a trimaran like IDEC SPORT. The boat is really amazing and formidable in these downwind conditions.” IDEC SPORT is expected to dock in Algeciras next Tuesday.
Stand-by in Puerto Sherry from early October
“The Discovery Route record held by Spindrift and Yann Guichard, set in 2013, is really high,” Bertrand continued. “Six days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 53 seconds to cover 4,481 miles on a direct route. That’s an average speed of over 25 knots! Obviously, we cannot afford to pick the wrong weather window. We will have to ride ahead of one or more lows centered on the Azores. We hope that these North-East flows will last until the end. October is a good month for this type of weather. We will be on stand-by in Puerto Sherry from the beginning of October, in constant contact with Christian Dumard, our weather expert. We are racing, as usual, with a reduced crew of 5. We all know the boat by inside out. The communications on board is great. Everyone contributes to the undertaking, including in the weather choices. Francis is not a big fan of long stand-by times. This has worked well for him throughout his extraordinary career. I feel a delicious pressure building up. This trip is fabulous. Each of us can measure the beauty, the historical significance and the value of the sporting challenge it represents.”
