The flying Frenchman set to smash round the world record

They are calling him the Bob Beamon of sailing. And just like Beamon, who astonished the world with his record-breaking long-jump in 1968, the French sailor Francis Joyon is rewriting the nautical record books in an unprecedented fashion.

Joyon, 47, is now in the final stages of an incredible voyage and on course to smash the existing non-stop solo round-the-world record by 20 days. Once he crosses the finish line off the Channel port of Brest on the morning of February 3, he will have completed one of the greatest feats of single-handed sailing in history.

Just like Beamon, whose leap at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 broke the world record by an almost unbelievable 21in - which stood unbeaten until 1991 - Joyon's expected time of 73 days for the 26,000-mile global course will have far exceeded what most thought possible for a solo sailor.

Joyon set sail in November on an adventure some predicted would end in disaster. The father of four from La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany was undertaking the voyage in the 90ft trimaran IDEC, a boat of tremendous power with a huge rotating mast that had been built to be raced by a crew of up to ten.

Many were worried that Joyon would end up exhausted and IDEC would simply flip over as she ran out of control in the Southern Ocean.

Others predicted that Joyon would be unable to handle IDEC's enormous sails or that the boat could lose her mast in the rough conditions that any round-the-world sailor inevitably would face.

There were also all the usual dangers - collision with debris in the water, with ice around Antarctica or the possibility that Joyon would collide with a ship while sleeping.

When he set off, the solo record stood at 93 days. Although Joyon was sailing a much faster boat than the previous record-holder, most saw little chance of him getting even close to 80 days.

Joyon had other ideas and over the past 71 days he has enjoyed good fortune with the weather, rarely running out of wind. He has, however, also displayed extraordinary stamina, determination and seamanship in keeping IDEC running close to her full potential.

他被称为航海界的鲍勃·比蒙。正如鲍勃·比蒙1968年因打破跳远世界记录而震惊世界一样，法国水手弗朗西斯·茹瓦永正在以前所未有的方式刷新航海纪录。

茹瓦永的惊人之旅已进入最后阶段，47岁的他将刷新世界纪录，把单人不靠岸环球航海记录缩短20天。2月3日早上，当他穿过终点布雷斯特港口时，他就将完成历史上最伟大的单人航海纪录之一。

1968年墨西哥奥运会上，比蒙的一跳打破了世界纪录，而且惊人地超出21英寸，直到1991年他创造的世界纪录才被打破。茹瓦永就像比蒙一样，他预定73天完成两万六千英里的环球航海，这远远低于大多数人认为的单人环航可能需要的最短时间。

茹瓦永在11月起航开始他的冒险旅程，有人预测这次航行可能以灾难而告终。茹瓦永来自法国布列塔尼地区的La Trinité-sur-Mer，有四个孩子。他驾驶的是90英尺长的三体帆船爱德克。这种船的动力极大，船上安装了巨大的旋转桅杆，是为有十名船员的团体比赛而设计的。

许多人担心茹瓦永最后会筋疲力尽，爱德克艇也将在南部海洋失控而翻船。

还有人预测茹瓦永无法控制爱德克艇上巨大的帆，艇上的桅杆也可能会在恶劣的环境中倒下，这是任何一个环球航行的水手都不可避免会遇到的。

还有各种常见的危险情况——撞到水中的残骸，南极洲周围的冰块，茹瓦永睡觉的时候也可能撞上其他的船只。

他出发的时候，单人航海世界记录是93天。尽管茹瓦永驾驶的帆船比前世界记录保持者的快的多，但是大多数人都认为他不太可能在近80天内完成航海。

茹瓦永则不这么认为。在过去的71天中，他运气不错，天气条件很好，差不多一直都有风。尽管如此，他仍旧表现出惊人的毅力、决心和驾驶技术，让帆船始终接近全速前进。

Long jump: 跳远
Break the record: 打破纪录
Finish line: 终点线
Single-handed: 独自一人的
Unbeaten: 未被打破的
Set sail: 启航
Flip: 翻转