Tom Goron - the little man who's storming the Channel - set off aboard her Optimist on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. She left the Needles (Isle of Wight, GB) at 7 o'clock this morning. For this challenge he is accompanied by a team led by his father Nicolas Goron, on a companion boat. He is responsible for the smooth running of the Record as well as for his son's safety. Ashore, the meteorologist Pascal Landuré was able to validate his forecasts and give the top start, talking with Nicolas about the weather conditions.
"I feel good, not stressed out right now even though I think about it and a little pressure starts to build up." tom explained the day before he left.
Let's not forget that to beat the Channel Crossing Record, the young skipper from Saint-Malo has to do better than 14 hours and 56 minutes, the reference time held by Violet Dorange in 2016, when she's only 15 years old.
Tom will therefore have to complete his 60 mile (111 km) sail before 22:00 this evening if he wants to set a new reference time. We were able to reach his team who told us that the young boy was having problems with his beacon. We can nevertheless follow his course on the tracking, but not sure if the position is the right one.
It's therefore difficult to know where he is, even though we know that he thought he was going to arrive around 5pm and that he had to deal with a collapse of the wind north of the Channel. Verdict in the early evening..
