SIGHTINGS joyon going for a 'grand slam' One of the complaints about the current America's Cup boats is that very little of the technological advances will trickle down to regular boats. We suppose that's mostly true, but then we learned that Frenchman Francis Joyon has equipped his 33-meter trimaran IDEC with foils such as those found on the AC boats. That should make IDEC faster still — and a little more sensitive. For those not familiar with French sailors, Joyon is something special, a soulful singlehander admired by all, who nonetheless has an astonishing record of achievements. We won't go into his whole history, but in the early days it was marked by around-the-world records set with an ancient boat, worn sails, and no outside help — not even a weather router. Joyon currently holds three of the biggest records in singlehanded racing: First, there is the big one, the singlehanded nonstop aroundJoyon may be media shy, but the-world record of 57 days. That's not too far he's bold on the water. off the crewed record of 45 days. Last year he improved on the singlehanded 24-hour distance record, 666.2 nm, averaging 27.75 knots. Recently he set a new Columbus Route — Cadiz to San Salvador — record of 8d, 16h (all aboard the 95-ft tri IDEC IDEC). No sailor has ever held these three prestigious records at the same time. And now Joyon — and his foils — has his sights set on the fourth record in what would give him an unprecedented Grand Slam. That record is the New York-to-Lizard record, currently held by Thomas Colville and his slightly larger and much more sophisticated and comfortable 105-ft trimaran Sodebo. The record will be difficult to beat, as Colville did the 2,980-mile (rhumbline) route in just 5d, 19h, an average of 21 knots on the rhumbline. The following is a list of TransAtlantic sailing records. Note what a tremendous improvement in times there have been in just 21 years. Solo North Atlantic records 1987: Bruno Peyron, Explorer, catamaran, 11d, 11h, 46m, 36s 1990: Florence Arthaud, Pierre Premier, trimaran, 9d, 21h, 42m 1992: Bruno Peyron, Explorer, catamaran, 9d, 19h, 22m 1994: Laurent Bourgnon, Primagaz, trimaran, 7d, 2h, 34m, 42s 2005: Francis Joyon, IDEC 1, trimaran, 6d, 4h, 1m, 37s 2008: Thomas Coville, Sodebo, trimaran, 5d, 19h, 29m, 20s The publicity-shy Joyon is a true sailing hero of ours, and we wish him the best of luck. He plans to make his attempt sometime in May. — richard
sailor lost in islands race It’s unfortunate that California sailors have become far too accustomed to losing friends and competitors in offshore yacht races, but the fact is that offshore sailing is a dangerous sport. This was driven home last month when San Diego sailor Craig Williams died on March 8 while crewing aboard James Gilmore's brand-new, all-carbon Columbia 32 Uncontrollable Urge in the Islands Race, a 139-mile race from Long Beach to San Diego, leaving Catalina and San Clemente Islands to port. While her crew consisted of very experienced offshore racers, this was the first offshore race for the boat and the design itself (her builder, Vince Valdes, was aboard as well). Caught in the trough of compression between an east-moving lowpressure area and the dominant Pacific High, the fourth edition of this now-annual race would be a breeze-on affair with upwind sailing for the beat to Catalina, demanding reaching conditions between the islands and high-speed downwind surfing conditions to the finish. (See this month's Racing Sheet for a full race report.) After rounding continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 76 •
Latitude 38
• April, 2013
find it all at With America's Cup Fever sweeping across the Bay Area, there's no doubt that this year's Strictly Sail Pacific is going to be one of the most exciting in recent years. Once again held at Oakland's Jack London Square (April 1114), the show is packed to the gills (or is that Gill?) with enough to see and do to entertain the entire family. A guide to the boat show is tucked into the pages of this issue, and in it you'll find details on everything from VIP Day (Friday, April 12), to seminars (free, advanced and on-the-water), to exhibitor parties (including Latitude's party), to the spectacular new America's Cup Pavilion
French sailing hero Francis Joyon is going for the Grand Slam of sailng records.
