Alan Roura left New York on July 11 to try to beat the North Atlantic record in a monohull, held by Marc Guillemot since 2013 on his IMOCA Safran in 8 days 5 hours 5 hours 20 minutes and 20 seconds. With rather rough conditions from the start - a good 30 knots and gusts to 40 knots - the young Swiss skipper was behind his counterpart.
As they emerged from the SW'ly SW'ly flow, Alan Roura was able to recover to milder conditions and was making "only" 15 knots. After recovering his deficit, the skipper of La Fabrique was again 47 miles behind 500 miles from the finish.
But whereas in 2013, Marc Guillemot had encountered light winds a few miles from the finish, Alan Roura was able to benefit from a favourable wind. He crossed the virtual finish line of Cape Lizard - the southernmost tip of Great Britain - on Friday, July 19, 2019 at 12:20 p.m. UT (2:20 p.m. French time).
"I feel good, happy, tired! But proud! Very happy to have succeeded, it was a daring bet and we succeeded. I didn't have many difficult moments after all... There was my gennaker (headsail) which got stuck at the top of the mast during the whole navigation, and a little phase of depression in my head yesterday, asking me a lot of questions. Wondering if I was going to make it or not, am I going to be on time... Little things like that what!
Everything we modified on La Fabrique allowed us to have a new boat, it's quite a machine today, we proved it again. There are still things to improve, to continue to learn how to use, but overall it's only the most.
I just learned about this navigation. Being driven by the desire to have this record and by the shore routers that guide me according to the weather, it really helped me in terms of performance. Now, we have to use all this for the rest. And I've never shot a boat so much in my life! It's a great success, we earned it, what, we have it and we won't have it taken away from us... Not right away!"
By taking 7 days 16 hours and 55 minutes to reach Ambrose Lighthouse (out of New York Harbour) and Cape Lizard (southwest tip of England), Alan improved the previous record by 12 hours and 25 minutes. The WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council) validation remains.
After a pit-stop in England, the skipper will set sail again tonight before heading to Brest on Saturday in the daytime.
2019 Alan Roura (IMOCA The Factory ) in 7J 16H 55'' in 7J 16H 55''
2013 Marc Guillemot (IMOCA Saffron ) in 8J 5H 20' in 8J 5H 20'
2012 Alex Thomson (IMOCA Hugo Boss ) in 8J 22H 08'' in 8J 22H 08''
2002 Bernard Stamm (IMOCA Bobst Group-Armor Lux / Superbigou ) in 10J 11H 55'' in 10J 11H 55''
