Gabart Maintains Lead on Record

Published on November 19th, 2017

(November 19, 2017; Day 16, 17:00 FR) – François Gabart is wedged in the back of the depression that opens the road to the east in his quest to break the current single-handed round the world time. The trimaran MACIF has two reefs in the mainsail, a small J2 for the forward sail. Gabart is moving towards the Kerguelen Islands also known as the Desolation Islands, a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean.

This is a kind of treadmill that brings the MACIF trimaran to the east and should begin to run out in the next 36 hours. In this case, the depression generates a fairly strong sea and a short swell. François and his routing team have decided to keep moving forward and it would be counterproductive to push the boat too far. MACIF is still advancing at a good speed and increasing his lead on the record.

The skipper of the 30m MACIF trimaran is 893.59 nm ahead of the record pace after covering 490 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).