Ellens round the world record broken
Posted on February 01st 2008
The solo round the world record set in 2005 by Ellen MacArthur was comprehensively broken by Francis Joyon of France, the former record holder, by 14 days.
Sailing in his boat IDEC-II, specifically designed for solo sailing, he completed the journey in 57 days, 13 hours and 6 seconds, retaking the record he lost to MacArthur in 2005. Setting out from Brest on 23rd November 2007 he crossed the finishing line early morning of the 20th January 2008.
A small fleet of ships out to meet Joyon as he came into Brest with 2000 people lining the dock, a slightly lower key reception compared with MacArthur’s three years ago. But the modest Joyon feels his record will not be unbeatable, even though he is closer to the crewed round the world record of 50 days and 16 hours than the previous solo effort.
With Thomas Corville no doubt eager to try his failed attempt again, in a sister ship to IDEC-II and Ellen MacArthur not ruling herself out for another pop, it may not be too long before monsieur Joyon has to atempt to re-take his record.
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