Gabart dodges iceberg in record attempt

(November 27, 2017; Day 24, 21:30 FR) – François Gabart narrowly avoided an iceberg today while taking a step south in his bid to set a new singlehanded round the world record. He has since gybed to port and has climbed up to 55° latitude, and with a succession of moderately active depressions, he could get to Cape Horn in five days. The skipper of the 30m MACIF trimaran is 796.3 nm ahead of the record pace after covering 632.7 nm in the past 24 hours.

 
Only three sailors to date (Francis Joyon, Ellen MacArthur, Thomas Coville) have ever held the record. After his start on November 4, to beat the record of 49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds held by Coville since December 25, 2016, Gabart will need to cross the finishing line (between Créac’h lighthouse, in Ouessant (Ushant), and the Lizard Point lighthouse in Cornwall, England) before 13.09 on December 23 (French time, UTC+1).

Team details – Tracker – Facebook