Francois Gabart, who left Ouessant on 4 November 10:05 (UTC+1), crossed the finishing line of his solo round the world, located between Lizard Point and Ouessant, at 02:45 (French time, UTC+1) this 17 December. For his first attempt, the MACIF trimaran skipper establishes a new single-handed round the world record of 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds, improving the time taken by Thomas Coville on 25 December 2016 (49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds) by 6 days, 10 hours, 23 minutes and 53 seconds.
His time is the second time outright in a round the world, crewed and single-handed combined. Only IDEC Sport (Francis Joyon) succeeded in achieving a better time in the Jules Verne Trophy (40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds). The MACIF trimaran will have covered a true distance of 27,859.7 miles, with a true average over this course of 27.2 knots.
During the round the world, Francois Gabart left a lasting impression on everyone by beating the reference times one by one on his way. The most significant ones were the distance sailed single-handed in 24 hours (851 miles between 13 and 14 November, against 784 miles, which was his own personal best), but also with crew and single-handed combined, on the Ouessant-Cape of Good Hope section (12 days, 20 hours and 10 minutes, the Pacific Ocean crossing (Tasmania to Cape Horn in 7 days, 15 hours and 15 minutes) and Cape Horn-equator (6 days, 22 hours and 15 minutes). (*subject to confirmation by the WSSRC)
