Record attempts come and go, but they don't look the sameâeuros¦ Après Thomas Coville, who will attempt the round-the-world sailing race françois Gabart is now tackling the Mediterranean solo. He has reached Port-La-Forêt for a first navigation in view of this record, which consists in reaching Carthage (Tunisia) from Marseille.
François Gabart had mentioned his upcoming program for 2017 during our interview during the Fêtes de Brest 2016. " The boat will enter a small yard in Brittany this summer and then we will try to beat the Mediterranean record, between Marseille and Carthage, between September 15 and October 15."
The Macif trimaran spent the summer at the pontoon dismasted to be repaired at the masthead. The technical team also took the opportunity to check the entire rig and install fiber optics on the appendages (rudders, foils, daggerboards). They will provide information on the behavior of the latter "The fiber optics provide us with data on the deformations and the efforts undergone by the appendages, which are sent directly to the boat's computer." explains Antoine Gautier, head of the design office.
At the end of the week (week of September 12 to 18, 2016), François Gabart will leave Le Finistère to reach La Ciotat, near Marseille. The young sailor will be accompanied by 4 members of his team, including Pascal Bidegorry with whom he had won the Transat Jacques Vabre, for this convoy of about a week.
"The fact of being with a crew allows me to test new things, to work on the boat's performance. This delivery trip will serve as training for the Mediterranean record. Once in Marseille, I will have less opportunity to sail, as we have scheduled public relations days to show the trimaran to the Macif group's employees and the general public explained François Gabart.
Macif will therefore enter a stand-by period in mid-September to attempt this 458-mile Mediterranean record. This record has been held since October 1st, 2013 by Armel Le Cléac'h on Banque Populaire VII in 18 hours 58 minutes and 13 seconds (24 knots theoretical average). He had then improved by 6 hours 40 minutes and 23 seconds the time set one year earlier by Thomas Coville (Sodebo).
This year 2016 was the year of records for François Gabart, who won The Transat Bakerly and then improved the 24-hour record at 784 miles with an average of 33 knots. "I like the Mediterranean very much, I sailed there several times when I was an Olympian and I have always enjoyed the races I have done there in the Figaro, especially the last one, the Cap Istanbul in 2010 (victory and French single-handed ocean racing champion title). It's a special sea with very changeable conditions, and you have to be opportunistic. I'm in a hurry to tackle this record" explains François Gabart. Before going on to talk about the ideal conditions for beating Armel le Cléac'h's record A mistral that has just risen to avoid the waves, and if possible more west than north, so as not to have to gybe on the trajectory. Above all, this mistral would have to blow all the way to Africa, which is quite a rare occurrence, because in general, it tends to drop south of Sardinia."
What is Macif's program for the years to come?
"After the Mediterranean Record, we're bringing the boat back to Brittany for a major refit in preparation for the 2017/2018 round-the-world race, which will be followed by lots of sailing next winter. The first race will be The Bridge which will leave from Saint-Nazaire to New York with a departure on June 24, 2017 and then we will bring the boat back to Europe and prepare for the world tour (November/December 2017 from Brest, arrival early 2018). In November 2018, Route du Rhum and after November/December 2019 we have the Round the World Race, but this time in a race and not in a Record" explained the sailor during the visit of his trimaran Macif, which we were able to attend during the Fêtes Maritimes de Brest.
