Left: take a gaffer south or even one of today’s more appalling cruising yachts and you might spend 36 days sailing from Brest down past the Equator… François Gabart has just sailed to Good Hope, through the Southern Ocean and back up to the Equator, heading north in the same period. Not much else to say, really. Above: cranking up the testing with the new Figaro 3 from VPLP
not disproportionate to the potential of the boat, but it is the way he managed the boat that was impressive. François matched the polars of the boat when driven by a crew, not someone sailing singlehanded. His team even modified the polars along the way, because François reached better performances than ever. Our speed predictions are calculated on a flat sea, and I think
we were a bit pessimistic about the capacity of the boat to sail in big waves with her current foils. We already knew from the Orma 60s that the foils would absorb the turmoil of the sea quite well but it’s even better now we have the elevators on the rudders.
Was the weather exceptional for the record? Jean-Yves Bernot:Not at all, it was a pretty normal set of conditions, the same as Thomas Coville had actually. The only weather we’d consider exceptional was what Francis Joyon and his crew encoun- tered when they won the Jules Verne Trophy.
So whywasMacif six days faster than Sodebo? J-YB: There is a reason – Thomas’s first task was to beat Joyon’s time (57d 3h) which was set with a much older boat. Thomas managed that aspect brilliantly, doing what he had to do. François was now forced to push on the throttle because Thomas’s record was already tremendous (49d 3h). They therefore approached their record differently. François’s temperament on the water is to sail for a record as
if he had a rival permanently 10 miles behind him. It is rather impres- sive because when the sailors leave for a record, it is a record. But with François it is different; he is always in full competition mode. He is very very committed. Also, Macif is a good boat that François now knows quite well. The way he handles his boat is definitely impressive. On the way back up the Atlantic François was particularly tired.
It was necessary to find a course so he could rest a little. He slept six hours and then he told me: ‘What’s this bullshit course?’ I said OK, let’s go back to racing mode. He was also thinking a lot about the big singlehanded round-the-
world race on Ultims (Brest to Brest in 2019). So for him this record was a very good test – he wanted to drive Macif as if he was racing to find the maximum level he could maintain. Vincent Lauriot-Prévost (VPLP): The speeds he has reached are
Will Macif’s record be beaten? J-YB:Yes, because we had beautiful conditions in the south Atlantic but horrible conditions in the Indian Ocean. There are two days to gain there. Also, sailing up the Atlantic could be made half a day faster. But this is all of course theoretical; a world tour with all the best conditions is like a dream. In the Indian Ocean there was no way to escape. It was frustrating. After the beautiful Atlantic crossing you think your luck can continue. But luck was not on our side and the north Atlantic was average. But François set the bar very high and it will be difficult to go faster
than him with the same boat. Then the next-generation boats will go even faster. But it will still remain a big challenge in terms of manoeuvring a 100ft foiling trimaran on your own.
Could a singlehanded sailor beat the current Jules Verne Trophy record of 40d 3h? J-YB: If all the stages had been perfect then we would not have been far from Idec’s record. Of course, that remains very speculative. When you take the average speed maintained and compare it with those of Idec they are not far apart. Moreover, Macif set numerous intermediate records. I thing solo sailors are getting better and better and more and more effective. Really this looks incredible considering the size of the boats! Who could have ever thought they could be capable of rounding the globe so fast?
Did you imagine that Macifwas able to sail so fast ? VL-P:Yes. But if we look at this boat compared with the other Ultims that have been launched recently (especially Banque Populaire) Macif is not the most extreme boat in size or weight or even in the height of the mast or size of the sails. In the discussions we had with François we limited ourselves. We discussed whether we should
SEAHORSE 19
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GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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