French sailor pulverizes solo around the world record
BREST, France: French sailor Francois Gabart smashed six days and 10 hours off sailing’s around the world record yesterday, producing what many pundits felt was a previously unthinkable time of 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds. Huge crowds of well-wishers were on hand to welcome the sailor into the port of Brest, accompanied by dozens of small craft as he burned flares at the helm and was carried aloft to shore by his ground crew where he popped a bottle of champagne.
“I’m aching all over and it’s been like that for weeks, weeks since a proper sleep, I can hardly go on,” an exhausted Gabart told the press on his ecstatic arrival in port. “I’ve been at sea all alone for 40-days and now suddenly I’m surrounded
by everyone here it’s amazing, I really only thought I had a slender chance of breaking the record,” he claimed. “It was hard and I was on the very edge of things the whole time.”
The 34-year-old sailor crossed a virtual finish line between the island of Ushant off France’s northwest tip and Lizard Point in southwest England at 0145 GMT, ripping to shreds the previous record set by compatriot Thomas Coville last year by a massive six days and 10 hours. Moments before crossing the finish line Gabart, a father of two and engineer by trade, sent out an emotional video showing his boat’s progress on a computer monitor. “The little blue is us, the red line is the finish. We should cut it soon, the computer says 30 seconds,” he said, wiping his eyes.
The race time was announced by an observer from the World Sailing Speed Council but will be subject to checks of the boat’s black box and its GPS data before final confirmation. “I’m happy and proud to have made this lovely voyage around the world,” he said in the video. “It hasn’t sunk in yet but I know it’s a great time. I have cargo ships and fishing boats around me in the dark here and it all seems strange and extraordinary.”
Gabart becomes just the fourth titleholder for a world record of sailing the globe solo without stopping. Huge leaps have been made in that time - since the record was first set in 2004, nearly 30
days have been shaved off. The debut record holder was Frenchman Francis Joyon who completed the odyssey in 72 days and 22 hours. British female sailor Ellen MacArthur took to the seas a year later, racing against the clock to break that record by just a day and a half (71 days, 14 hours). She remained undefeated until 2016 when Coville set a new record of 49 days and three hours which many predicted would be difficult to topple.
Gabart, who embarked on Nov 4, was on a twoyear-old state of the art 30 m long new generation MACIF maxi-trimaran comfortably carved its way through the waves and into the record books. Helped by good weather throughout much of the voyage, particularly during the long and arduous Pacific section, it clocked up jaw-dropping speeds of up to 35 knots (65 km an hour). He set a number of new solo race records along the way, including the fastest navigation of the Pacific (7 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes) and the longest distance covered in 24 hours (1,576 km).
Gabart first circumnavigated the world during the 2013 Vendee Globe race - which he won. He immediately set his sights on breaking the solo non-stop record. Coville congratulated his record vanquisher. “He’s an incredible strategist. He already showed that during the Vendee Globe,” he told AFP. Of the four solo record holders, Gabart is the only won to have also won a competitive round the world race.
Another illustrious sailor Michel Desjoyeaux said there was no surprise in the feat. “The one thing we can be sure of is that Francois has a faster boat than Thomas,” he told AFP by telephone. “And he has spent a great deal of time on a multi-hull and is completely unafraid of high speeds, he’s fundamentally at ease in that environment.” Coville’s boat was a tenyear-old craft that had been reconditioned rather than built to purpose.