Francis Joyon arrived in New York on Wednesday in preparation of his Transatlantic (New-York – The Lizard) record attempt see previous news story here. 

In tough upwind conditions Joyon took a week to complete the voyage from St Martin and now has a few repairs to IDEC – the 90ft trimaran before he sets out to break the current record of 7 days 2 hours 34 minutes 42 seconds set in June 1994 by Laurent Bourgnon on Primagaz.

Commenting on the trip up from the Caribbean Joyon said: “I set out with a gentle wind behind me, and then for quite some time I had to struggle upwind in a 30kt flow, which now means I’ve got some little jobs to do, as this type of condition always leads to one or two little things getting broken, but there’s no serious damage.”

The IDEC trimaran is now moored just a short distance away from the Statue of Liberty at the Manhattan Sailing Club Marina and is, not surprisingly, attracting a lot of attention. Joyon continued: “I’m surprised as lots of people are coming to see me, and clearly, they know about the boat. I would never have guessed that, and it’s rather nice. In fact, for the time being, I’m spending quite a bit of time talking to the inquisitive strollers.” The official stand-by period will begin as planned on the 10 April, but for the moment, after talking things over with his router, Jean-Yves Bernot, it would appear that it is unlikely there will be a window of opportunity for the time being.