Francis Joyon (born 28 May 1956) is a French professional sailboat racer and

yachtsman A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

. Joyon and his crew currently hold the

Jules Verne Trophy 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 th ...

for circumnavigation, on ''

IDEC SPORT ''Groupama 3'' is a high performance racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting ''IDEC SPORT'' ''Banque Populaire VII'', ''Lending Club 2'', ''IDEC 3''). She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and ...

'' (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 Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

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 Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

. During the record run he sailed more than at an average speed of on the '' 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 Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur (born 8 July 1976) is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. MacArthur is a successful solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005, ...

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 Ushant (; br, Eusa, ; french: Ouessant, ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and, in medieval terms, Léon. In lower tiers of governm ...

6 days 4 hours 1 minute and 37 seconds after the start at

Ambrose Light Ambrose Light, often called Ambrose Tower, was the light station at the convergence of several major shipping lanes in Lower New York Bay, including Ambrose Channel, the primary passage for ships entering and departing the Port of New York and ...

off New York, breaking the 11-year-old record of

Laurent Bourgnon Laurent Bourgnon (April 16, 1966 – June 24, 2015) was a Swiss sailor and motorsports. He was an offshore sailing winning both the prestigious transadltanic races the Route du Rhum in 1994 and 1998 and the Transat Jacques-Vabre in 1997. He di ...

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 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 An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

. ''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

'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, 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.

Achievements

* 1988: 32nd Route de la Découverte (JB-Express) * 1990: 10th

Route du Rhum The Route du Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed yacht race, which takes place every four years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, Metropolitan France and Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, overseas France. The first competiti ...

(BPO) * 1991: 5th Course de l'Europe (Kar-Cadelac) * 1992: 3rd Transat and 3rd Route du café (BPO) * 1993: 3rd Course de l'Europe (Banque Populaire) * 1995: 2nd Transat Jacques-Vabre and 3rd Course de l'Europe (Banque Populaire) * 1996: 2nd Transat Québec - Saint-Malo (Banque Populaire) * 1998: 6th

(Banque Populaire) * 2000: 1st Transat (Eure-et-Loir) * 2001: 1st

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after the Fastnet ...

and also beat the record by sailing around the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

in 3 hours ten minutes and 11 seconds * 2003-2004: Beat the record by sailing singlehanded around the world in 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds (''IDEC''). Subsequently, beaten by

in 2005 * 2005: Beat the record by sailing single-handed across the Atlantic in 6 days, 4 hours 1 minute and 37 seconds (''IDEC'') * 2007: Beat the 24-hour single-handed distance record by sailing 613.54 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 25.85 knots. Joyon set the record sailing IDEC 2 during a successful attempt to break the single-handed around the world record. Soon after, Joyon's 24-hour distance record was beaten by

Thomas Coville Thomas Coville (born 10 May 1968) is a French yacht racer. Coville was born in Rennes. He participated in significant offshore races and record attempts. In April 2012, he achieved 7 circumnavigations of the world, on mono or multihulls, sing ...

who sailed 619.3 miles in 24 hours during an unsuccessful single-handed around the world record attempt * 2008: Beat the record for sailing single-handed around the world in 57 days 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds comprehensively beating Ellen MacArthur's existing record by 14 days, 00 hours, 44 minutes and 27 seconds * 2010: 2nd

, with ''IDEC 2'' * 2013: Beat his own record Road of the discovery between Cadiz and San Salvador Island, with ''IDEC 2'' * Beat (16 June) the record by sailing single-handed across the Atlantic in 5 days, 2 hours 56 minutes and 10 seconds (with ''IDEC 2'') * 2017: Jules Verne Trophy with ''IDEC SPORT'' (40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds) * Beat (12 July) his own record by sailing single handed across the Atlantic in 5 days, 1 hour 37 minutes and 02 seconds (with IDEC 2) * 2018: 1st

References

External links

*
Idec's website

English news story about new circumnatigation attempt

Details of boat

Launch of boat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyon, Francis Living people 1956 births French male sailors (sport) Single-handed circumnavigating sailors