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News Stories - Sailing solo

Before he set off in November, there were fears that Francis Joyon would be unable to control his huge boat named IDEC. With its three hulls slicing through the water and a massive rotating mast that reached 30 metres into the sky, the boat was built in 1986 for a crew of ten. It was feared that such a boat would be too powerful for one man in the rough seas of the Southern Ocean.

But Joyon has smashed all the records, and remarkably came home to the port of Brest only 11 days outside the outright record set by another Frenchman Bruno Peyron who, with a full crew of 14, completed the circumnavigation two years ago.

Joyon's effort was called an incredible achievement by Robin Knox Johnston, the first man to sail non-stop around the world. Another British round-the-world sailor, Chay Blyth said Joyon had driven the boat like a man possessed.

Joyon was aided by favourable winds, but as other sailors prepare new boats for record breaking assaults, they may find that Joyon has raised the record to a level that will be unbeatable for some time to come.

- vocabulary:

set off: started his journey
hulls: a hull is the main part of the body of a boat or ship
slicing through: moving through something quickly, like a knife
crew: people who work on and operate a ship or boat
Southern Ocean: a decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 delimited a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean - from the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with the Antarctic Treaty Limit
smashed all the records: achieved the best result so far
the outright record: absolutely the best result in history
circumnavigation: sailing around the world

like a man possessed: as if driven by demons; obsessed by the idea of breaking the record

for some time to come: in the foreseeable future