Attempting the Mauritius Route record: Port Louis (Brittany) and Port Louis (Mauritius)

On Saturday 19th October, Francis Joyon left his home port of La Trinité-sur-Mer in Southern Brittany to head for the start line off the Citadel of Port Louis and a complicated 8,800-mile long solo voyage to the island of Mauritius.

Francis is attempting to smash his own time of 26 days, 4 hours and 13 minutes set ten years ago. The Mauritius Route is the first Act of his campaign of record attempts in Asia, the IDEC SPORT ASIAN TOUR.

“The wind isn’t very strong,” he says ahead of the start. “I’d have liked it to be stronger, but we don’t have the choice as otherwise we would be facing strong headwinds. I need to pick up a light northerly flow by heading into the westerly winds first. After that, it should be fairly fast down the coast of Portugal and past the Canaries? I’m going to have to weave my way around the Cape Verde Islands. With Christian Dumard (router back on dry land) we’re keeping an eye on a low pressure system forming further South, which risks interrupting the trade winds. That’s why we wanted to start so quickly. The record can be smashed. I may well be a bit behind by the Equator, but I hope to make up for that during the rest of the voyage.

“It is around the equivalent of three Route du Rhum races,” explains Francis. “There are hardly any moments when you can take the direct route. Ten years ago, I sailed 10,000 miles rather than the 8,800 theoretical miles. This is going to be a much longer voyage on this boat than my previous solo trips, so it will be an opportunity to get to know the boat better.”

The Mauritius Route record is the first act in the IDEC SPORT ASIAN TOUR 2019-2020, a brand new campaign of records covering almost 27,000 miles.

After the Mauritius Route, there will be three more record attempts, this time with a crew:
Act 2: Mauritius – Ho Chi Minh (3975 miles),
Act 3: Ho Chi Minh – Hong Kong (920 miles)
Act 4: Clipper Route between Hong Kong and London (13,000 miles).