News Around the World


FRANCE Wunderkind First it was necessary to leave. That was decided at dawn on 4 November when a narrow but fabulous weather window appeared, literally just a spy hole down to the Equator, but with some uncer- tainty after that. It finished 42d 16h 40m 35s later, after François Gabart and the VPLP-designed Macif had averaged 27.2kt through the water after 27,860nm sailed… an incredible 6d 10h ahead of the previous record set by Thomas Coville only 12 months earlier. Onboard Sodebo Thomas had sailed 28,400nm averaging


24.09kt. Patricia Brochard, CEO of Sodebo, said: ‘Thomas and François pulverised, within one year, a record that had stood since 2008. They have taken 15 days off the previous mark! ‘It is phenomenal in terms of human performance. It is also proof


of the technology jumps that our boats have made over 10 years.’ François’s time is actually the second best time around the world; the only sailing boat that has rounded faster is Idec Sport, sailed by Francis Joyon and his crew one year ago within the framework of the Trophy Jules Verne. Let’s hand over comment here to François Gabart and the people involved in that feat…


Fear? François Gabart: Honestly, I was never frightened. There was no moment when I thought I was going to capsize. I had automatic anti-capsizing systems with 3D heel sensors which worked perfectly. To start with I slept holding the sheet in my hand. And then gradually I gained confidence, I saw where the limits were. In the end I had no idea how many hours and days I spent sleeping


18 SEAHORSE


while the main hull was out of the water… After a while you feel your boat well even from your bunk and there is no more concern. Then you sleep better!


Routeing FG: As well as Jean-Yves Bernot and his team who were helping me to refine the weather predictions and fine-tune the optimal course, our own technical department was receiving the data from Macifevery two minutes, monitoring everything that was happening. There is a lot of information going to dry land. Maybe it will be different in a few years, but today the team


onshore is more there to understand what is happening on the boat than to help me. I drive the boat, do the manoeuvres, change and set the sails properly, make the repairs… Maybe in five or 10 years we can control the autopilot settings from ashore – if it is permit- ted… But honestly, we are still very far from that! However, right now I think it is better that the people onboard do the job.


Drifting icebergs FG: Comparing what I observed during the Vendée Globe of four years ago with this voyage, I cannot say I noticed any change in the melting of the ice and pollution of the oceans. But I know all sailors say that over the past 40 years more and more icebergs have been breaking away from Antarctica and that maybe in 20 years’ time we would not be able to play any more so far in the deep south because of the icebergs. My record will be beaten because boats are going to advance,


but maybe the limit will become the fact that we cannot go so far south any more and will have to sail further.


FRANÇOIS GABART!


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