Francis Joyon

Last updated
Francis Joyon in 2014 Francis Joyon Route du Rhum 2014.jpg
Francis Joyon in 2014

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. [1] He held the record for the fastest single-handed sailing circumnavigation from 2008 to 2016.

Contents

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 metres (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 year old) sails and no weather router.

In February 2005 Ellen MacArthur beat Joyon's record by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes, 49 seconds.

On 6 July 2005 Francis Joyon and IDEC crossed the finishing line between Lizard Point and Ushant 6 days 4 hours 1 minute and 37 seconds after the start at Ambrose Light off New York, breaking the 11-year-old record of Laurent Bourgnon for the single-handed crossing of the Atlantic Ocean with a sailing boat. During the same voyage he also broke the 24-hour distance record for single-handed sailing by sailing 543 nautical miles (1,006 km) in one day on the 3 July 2005. Joyon's record voyage ended badly on 7 July while he was sailing back to his home port after completion of the transatlantic run. Joyon, who refused help to sail the boat home from the finish line and was still single-handed, was sailing across the English Channel. At a critical moment an exhausted Joyon fell asleep and the boat continued on autopilot. IDEC ran aground at the Pointe de Penmarc'h on the Breton coast. The €4 million trimaran was wrecked; Joyon escaped without injury.

On 9 May 2006 Joyon announced that he was building a new muilti-hull to be called IDEC 2 . His new boat is designed for solo sailing unlike the original IDEC, which was originally designed for crewed sailing. Design was by Nigel Irens & Bernard Cabaret. IDEC 2 weighs 11 tons, compared to his previous boat which weighed 16 tons, and has 10% more sail area. The new boat was seen as capable of taking 3 days off the existing record under the same weather conditions.

On 23 November 2007 Joyon set off in IDEC 2 in an attempt to beat Ellen MacArthur's world record for a single handed circumnavigation. He achieved this on 20 January 2008 in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds, [2] in a voyage that is regarded as one of the most impressive sailing feats in recent history and in a time nearly two weeks less than the previous record.

Joyon completing record-setting circumnavigation Trimaran-idec-brest-2008-1.JPG
Joyon completing record-setting circumnavigation

Achievements

Related Research Articles

Ellen MacArthur Long-distance yachtswoman

Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Jules Verne Trophy Prize for fastest around-the-world yacht trip

The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the organization and paid an entry fee. A vessel holding the Jules Verne trophy will not necessarily hold the absolute round the world record. The trophy was first awarded to the first yacht which sailed around the world in less than 80 days. The name of the award is a reference to the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days in which Phileas Fogg traverses the planet in 80 days. The current holder is IDEC Sport skippered by Francis Joyon in 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds.

Robin Knox-Johnston British yacht racer

Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also named the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR) is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth in England to Newport, Rhode Island in the United States, and has generally been held on a four yearly basis.

Clipper route Sailing route around the world

The clipper route was the traditional route derived from the Brouwer Route and sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, to make use of the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along the route, particularly at Cape Horn, which the clippers had to round on their return to Europe.

Franck Cammas French yachtsman

Franck Cammas is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two-year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, as well as a piano academy, Franck Cammas finally opted for a career in sailing. In 1997, at the age of 24, he won the Solitaire du Figaro and a year later helmed his first trimaran christened Groupama. Despite his late entry into competition, he is one of the most talented and respected sailors in the Ocean Racing Multihull Association world.

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede is a French sailor. He is best known for his achievements in single-handed sailing and set the current world-record for the westabout circumnavigation. He also holds the record of sailing cape horn 12 times in competitions.

Speed sailing record

Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three most sought after records are the:

<i>IDEC Sport</i> Sailing vessel

IDEC SPORT is a racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting. She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation of the world. She was originally skippered by French yachtsman Franck Cammas, with a crew of ten and sponsored by the French insurance company Groupama. She is currently skippered by Françis Joyon.

<i>Banque Populaire V</i>

Banque Populaire V is an offshore-racing trimaran and Team Banque Populaire's fifth boat designed to set oceanic records. She was launched on 4 October 2008 in Nantes, France. She holds multiple records for sailing over set courses, as well as the record for distance sailed in 24 hours by any class of sailing boat, 908.2 nm.

Pascal Bidégorry French sailor

Pascal Bidegorry is a French sailor.

Daedalus is a maxi-catamaran, that participated in numerous open-ocean races under various owners and names.

Around the world sailing record

The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world was Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining members of Ferdinand Magellan's crew who completed their journey in 1522. The first solo record was set by Joshua Slocum in the Spray (1898).

Loïck Peyron

Loïck Peyron is a French yachtsman, younger brother of the yachtsman Bruno Peyron.

VPLP design is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently hold many of the World Speed Sailing records.

Brian Thompson (sailor) British yachtsman (born 1962)

Brian Thompson is a British yachtsman. He was the first Briton to twice break the speed record for sailing around the world, and the first to sail non-stop around the world four times. He is highly successful offshore racer on all types of high-performance yachts, from 21-foot Mini Transat racers to 140-foot Maxi Trimarans.

Thomas Coville French yacht racer

Thomas Coville is a French yacht racer.

Alex Pella Spanish yachtsman (born 1972)

Alex Pella is a Spanish yachtsman. In 2014 he became the first and only Spanish to win a transoceanic single-handed race, the Route du Rhum. Alex Pella made history once again, on the 26th of January 2017, when he broke, with the rest of the team, the absolute round-the-world speed sailing record, known as the Jules Verne Trophy., aboard the sophisticated maxi-multihull IDEC 3. They circumnavigated the planet in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

IMOCA 60 Foncia 2

Foncia 2 is a IMOCA 60 Class offshore racing monohull sailing yacht launched 2010.

Roland Jourdain French skipper and navigator

Roland Jourdain, often nicknamed "Bilou" is a French professional yachtsman, born on 28 April 1964 in Quimper. He is notably two-time winner of the Route du Rhum.

References

  1. ↑ "Francis Joyon - IDEC Sport". Jules Verne Trophy. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Joyon shatters MacArthur's record". BBC Sport . 20 January 2008. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.