Francis Joyon, the French yachtsman, is continuing to blaze a trail around the planet on IDEC II, his 97ft trimaran, and has rounded Cape Horn after a blisteringly fast passage across the Southern Ocean, heading north up the South Atlantic.

Joyon has astonished sailors the world over with his extraordinary assault on Dame Ellen MacArthur’s 71-day nonstop solo global record. At the helm of his superlight multihull, he has sailed almost the perfect course and was yesterday 3,354 miles ahead of MacArthur’s equivalent position after 37 days at sea.

At this rate the Frenchman could slice eight days off MacArthur’s time and possibly a lot more if he gets through the tricky South Atlantic - MacArthur’s slowest section - in good order. Mark Turner, MacArthur’s manager, has called Joyon’s performance “phenomenal”. “He could quite easily do 55 days,” Turner said yesterday.

From Brittany, Joyon raced to the Equator without any delays, then went through the Doldrums without stopping and then sailed a Great Circle route across the south Atlantic, something that is normally impossible because of the blocking high pressure system. In the Indian Ocean his boat was fast enough to ride for days on the same weather system and his total time across the whole of the Southern Ocean was quicker than Orange II, the fully crewed record-holder.

In the two-handed Barcelona World Race, Alex Thomson, the Briton sailing with Andrew Cape, the Australian yachtsman, has Hugo Boss back up to speed in the Southern Pacific after a 48-hour pitstop in Wellington, where problems with the rudders and generator were fixed.

Fortunately for Thomson, the stop in New Zealand has not cost him and Cape second place, although Hugo Boss trails Paprec-Virbac 2, the leader sailed by Damian Foxall and Jean-Pierre Dick, by 793 miles.