François Gabart is racking up performances in his attempt to beat the single-handed round the world record. Today, Sunday 3 December 2017, at 13:20 (French time, UTC+1), the skipper of the MACIF trimaran crossed the longitude of Cape Horn, 29 days, 03 hours and 15 minutes after crossing the Ouessant starting line, making this the second best time outright, in the history of sailing, single-handed and with crew combined, since only Francis Joyon and his crew on IDEC Sport achieved a better time last year, of 26 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes.
The MACIF trimaran has improved the reference time between Ouessant (Ushant) and Cape Horn single-handed, held since 2016 by Thomas Coville (31 days, 11 hours and 30 minutes). This performance is all the more remarkable, since it establishes a new outright record (single-handed and with crew combined) of the south Pacific crossing (Tasmania-Cape Horn) in 7 days 15 hours and 15 minutes*, better than the 7 days, 21 hours, 13 minutes and 31 seconds by IDEC Sport last year (Thomas Coville took 8 days, 18 hours, 28 minutes and 45 seconds).
However, the chief goal of this round the world is still to beat the single-handed round the world record by Thomas Coville (49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds). To succeed in this, François Gabart will need to sail up the Atlantic Ocean in less than 20 days, to get to Ouessant before 23 December.
(* subject to confirmation by the WSSRC)
The key news of the round the world record
Date of departure: Saturday 4 November, at 10:05 (French time, UTC+1)
Number of miles sailed since the start: 19,280 miles (35,707 km)
Number of miles still to sail: 7,114 miles (13,175 km)
Ouessant-Equator passage time: 05 d 20 h 45 min
Ouessant -Good Hope passage time: 11 d 20 h 10 min
Ouessant-Cape Agulhas passage time: 11 d 22 h 20 min
Ouessant-Cape Leeuwin passage time: 19 d 14 h 10 min
Ouessant-Cape Horn passage time: 29 d 03 h 15 min
Follow François Gabart’s record attempt on the MACIF trimaran on the map: http://bit.ly/MACIF-CARTO-TDM
