Off Watch for My Money, in Long-Distance Voyaging, the Rugged, Aging, Balding Master Mariner Called Francis Joyon Is Sailing’S Undeniable Greatest of All Time
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Off Watch For my money, in long-distance voyaging, the rugged, aging, balding master mariner called Francis Joyon is sailing’s undeniable Greatest of All Time. The G.O.A.T. n recent years, in the under 73 days, a world record world of sports, the at the time. But Joyon was Iacronym G.O.A.T. has be- truly just getting started. come a popular tag to identify In 2005, he broke the and laud the utmost in excel- 11-year-old record for a solo lence: Greatest of All Time. crossing of the Atlantic in a In boxing, Muhammad Ali shade over 6 days. In 2008, is definitely the G.O.A.T. In he again circled the globe sin- professional basketball, there glehandedly in record-setting are two passionate, divergent fashion, this time in under 58 schools of thought regarding days, aboard yet another new who deserves G.O.A.T. status: tri called IDEC 2. Five years Michael Jordan or LeBron later, on the same boat, he James. In pro football, at least lowered his solo transatlantic 122 here in New England, the un- record to 5 days, 1 hour. In disputed G.O.A.T. is Patriots 2017, sailing the maxi IDEC quarterback Tom Brady. Of Sport, with a full crew he won course, in reality, there is no the Jules Verne Trophy for such thing as a true G.O.A.T.; fastest circumnavigation in it’s all conjecture, and arguing just over 40 days. Forty! Days! the merits of favorite athletes Finally, in 2018, he won the on the grandest stages is part transatlantic Route du Rhum of the fun of being a fan. Now 63 and still ripping around the planet under sail, the from France to Guadeloupe All that said, in recent times stoic Frenchman has shown no signs of slowing down. by vanquishing the young su- I’ve come to believe that in perstar François Gabart—the the world of offshore sailing adventure with high rewards. voyages from Singapore to seeming heir to the G.O.A.T.’s an unlikely candidate has risen Let’s put it this way. I still get Shanghai; and will conclude in throne—in most dramatic to supreme, exalted status: a antsy sailing a boat on and off early 2020 with a crewed run fashion, by seven minutes after a stoic Frenchman who, at the a mooring by myself. Joyon at the so-called Clipper Route voyage of 7 ½ days. The word not-so-tender age of 63, seems regularly races a 103-foot tri- from Hong Kong to London. in French for “incredible” is to get better, more ambitious maran. Across oceans. Alone. And to think, I considered my incroyable. and even more audacious Faster than anyone ever has. last charter in the Caribbean a The incroyable, er, amazing with each passing year, while Joyon made news in France pretty cool trip. thing about Joyon is he’s show- continuing to show his literal last spring with the announce- One of the more amazing ing no signs of slowing down. and figurative transom to all ment of his latest record-hunt- things about Joyon is that, His raw strength and endless the Young Turks who are his ing campaign aboard his though he’d spent his life stamina are legendary. He juniors by decades. maxi-tri, IDEC Sport (Group sailing professionally after an remains humble to a fault. In For my money, in long- IDEC, a French conglomerate, unlikely childhood far from those rare moments when he’s distance voyaging, the rugged, is Joyon’s corporate sponsor). the sea, he didn’t become a ashore, he appears to be in no aging, balding master mariner His 2019/2020 Asian Tour household name in France small rush to return to where called Francis Joyon is sailing’s will commence in October until 2004, when he was he’s most comfortable. At sea. undeniable G.O.A.T. with a solo run from France almost 50 (by comparison, our There’s nobody else like You are forgiven if you to Mauritius in the Indian football hero Brady is beating Francis Joyon. Is he the great- have no idea who Joyon is. He Ocean (he needs to knock that long odds, but still nearing the est ever? I’m not positive. But plays what has become a very off in less than 26 days); will end of his career, by playing show me someone better. French game that really has no move on to the South China at 42). That year, he sailed a equivalent in the U.S.—a high- Sea with a series of four fully previous IDEC, a 79-footer, risk contest that mixes high crewed record attempts on around the world alone in just SPORT PIERRICK CONTIN/IDEC Off Watch Don Street always believed that Iolaire’s massive boom, left over from her days as a gaff-rigger, ‘could be a real widow-maker’ in an inadvertent jibe. navigator while a member of The LAST CHAPTER Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup squad), and a Grenadian or legendary sailor opening up the islands to the the venerable Royal Ocean boat boy. And Street counts and cruising-guide throngs of cruising sailors and Racing Club and served as its another half-dozen near F author Don Street, this charterers that followed. And commodores. Over the years, disasters, “three of which were past July 26 should’ve been a he’s absolutely correct. countless great sailors crewed avoided by the skillful work of happy day: his 89th birthday. The 114-year-old Iolaire aboard Iolaire, including crew and skipper, and three by Instead, it will be a day Street already had a long legacy when high-latitude explorer Bill her own lucky streak.” remembers for all the wrong Street acquired the ship- Tilman, America’s Cup legend Alas, Iolaire’s luck ran out reasons—the day his beloved wrecked boat, for $100, off a C. Sherman Hoyt, and former this past July, reportedly when 46-footer, Iolaire, aboard beach in St. Thomas, USVI, in submarine skipper Bill King, she jibed accidently while sail- which he roamed the Atlantic 1959 after she’d washed ashore who became famous for his ing dead-downwind, and then and the Caribbean with his when an anchor shackle failed. round-the-world voyage on hit the bricks on the rocky family and friends over a “I resurrected her from the Galway Blazer. shores of Ibiza. The crew man- half-century of ownership, was dead,” he said. Iolaire’s second life, with aged to scramble into a life raft lost in heavy weather under Street has often said that Street as captain, was nothing and made it ashore safely. 162 the command of her latest if Iolaire’s gimballed dining less than extraordinary. She Street always believed owner off the coast of the table could talk, “oh, the tales survived three hurricanes: a Iolaire’s massive main boom, Spanish island of Ibiza. it would tell.” Built in 1905, pair in 1961 and Hurricane left over from her days as a The boat’s rich history reads gaff-rigger, “could be a real like a riveting maritime novel. widow-maker in an inadver- What happened off Ibiza was tent jibe.” For that reason, he just the sad, final chapter. spent years rigging, testing and Street sold Iolaire in 2009. perfecting various preventer Before that, for five decades, systems to head off such a the engineless red yawl was possibility. “This was obviously a ubiquitous presence in not rigged on July 26,” he said. both Europe and the Eastern Street, of course, was Caribbean, on both sides devastated by the loss, but has of the Atlantic, which she wonderful memories of “the crossed seven times under long-lived and long-loved” Street’s command. It’s hard to Iolaire. “For 50 years, I lived imagine a sailor and his vessel on Iolaire,” Street said, with an being more intertwined than emphasis on lived. “I camped Street was with Iolaire. Street out when I came ashore!” used the boat as his base to And there is a silver lining cruise, race, charter, explore to this dark cloud, an epilogue and write, and his adventures to the grand story. Perhaps the spawned hundreds of maga- Iolaire in her glory in happier days, powered up with full sail best thing of all about Iolaire: zine articles, the Imray-Iolaire and a full crew racing off Antigua in the early 1990s. Her skipper Don Street—who charts of the Caribbean and loved her more than everybody Atlantic islands, three books, she was immediately commis- Klaus in 1984. There was a else—is not only as feisty as and his series of all-inclusive sioned for racing, as she was dismasting in the Anegada ever, he’s still racing Dragons cruising guides. every year (except from 1940 Passage in 1962, and the time off the coast of Ireland, the Street has long maintained through 1945, during World she lost 10 feet off the top of oldest (and still most capable) that, aboard Iolaire, through War II), right up to 2019. the spar off Dominica in 1984. in the fleet. Yes, Iolaire is gone. his own stories and travels, he Among her distinguished In that instance, Street sailed But Street sails on. demonstrated how accessible owners were Rose Richards the boat home to Grenada the Caribbean was, and that and Bobby Somerset, both with his 4-year-old daughter, he played a huge role in of whom were founders of Dory (who later sailed as a BEKEN OF COWES Off Watch Once you’ve experienced the Northwest Passage, I’ve discovered, it’s like the Hotel California: You can check out, but you can never leave.