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SAILING

Swedish boat sets 24-hour record in Volvo Ocean Race

Sweden's Ericsson 4 has broken the world 24-hours distance record for a monohull yacht during the Volvo Ocean Race around the world which departed from Spain earlier this month, organizers said Wednesday.

Published: 29 October 2008 12:03 CET

The boat, which leads the first stage of the race between Alicante and Cape Town in South Africa, traveled some 585 miles (1,080 kilometres) in the South Atlantic in the 24-hour period that ended at 0700 GMT.

That shattered the previous record of 562.97 miles set in January 2006 by ABN Amro 2, which was skippered by France’s Sebastien Josse, in the Indian Ocean during the previous edition of the Volvo race.

Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazil’s Torben Grael, was about 30 miles ahead of Puma Racing of the United States, some 1,800 miles from Cape Town where the eight boats taking part in the race are expected to arrive on Sunday or Monday.

The boat, a favourite to win the race, was navigating at a speed of over 26 knots. It faced a low pressure system with winds of over 35 knots and maximum wave heights of seven metres (23 feet).

Organizers did not rule out the possibility that another record could be set on Wednesday, either by Ericsson 4 or one of the other boats taking part in the race.

Chinese-Irish entry Green Dragon was in third place while Sweden’s second entry in the race, Ericsson 3, was in fourth place.

The finish line in the race of 37,000 nautical miles is in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the teams are expected in June 2009.

RACE

Gabart, the record breaking French sailor in a hurry

A sailing prodigy, Frenchman Francois Gabart on Sunday crushed the world record for the fastest non-stop solo navigation of the world on his first attempt.

Published: 17 December 2017 11:43 CET
Gabart, the record breaking French sailor in a hurry
Sailing prodigy Francois Gabart celebrating in Brest. Photo: Damien Meyer/AFP

Driven by a desire to discover the world at full speed, the sailor completed his tour in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds.

“The job of a sailor is nothing more than managing problems and dealing with difficulties,” said Gabart, an engineer by trade.

The winner of the 2013 Vendee Globe and 2014 Route de Rhum yacht races, the 34-year-old father-of-two has been sailing for 20 years.

Trailblazer

“He likes to be a pioneer, he is not an upstart but someone in a hurry to discover things, to demonstrate things to himself and others,” said Christian Le Pape, who has known Gabart for 10 years.

“I wouldn't classify him as a genius in terms of ease at the helm but he has an ability to process information that is out of the ordinary like Michel Desjoyeaux or Armel Le Cleach.”

Desjoyeaux, a double winner of the Vendee Globe who mentored the engineer, said Gabart was given the the name “Excel spreadsheet” by his team.

“At the arrival of the Vendee Globe, we found 74 markings on the boat, but the race had taken 78 days,” said Desjoyeaux.

“In fact, he had noted the number of times he had brushed his teeth. He's not crazy but very rational.”

Weather and poetry

Gabart comfortably recognises his square side.

“I'm pretty reasonable and rational,” said Gabart, the son of a dentist and brother to two sisters.

“I've been like that since I was 10-years-old!

“My parents tell me that when I was a kid, I was very good at certain things.”

A sailor who doesn't like to swim, Gabart first dreamed of being a metrologist as a child.

“At 10 I was reading books about whether and knew things that no one understood at that age,” he said.

“I'm passionate about the weather.

“We can be wrong but we can almost see in to the future, I find it extraordinary to be able to know what will happen.

“There is a poetic side too, to watch a cloud is beautiful.”

By Sabine Colpart