17 hours and some change…

by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS on 20 Nov 2017 Breaking his own 24-hour run by almost 80nm, François Gabart has set a new 851nm record on board the Ultime Tri, Macif. As he ploughs on through the Indian Ocean (or is that flies across it?), first he obviously has to finish, but he could well nab first place in the group he will take out to just the four souls to ever hold it (along with Joyon, MacArthur, and Coville).

Of course, you’d be pretty happy to churn out half of that score in a modern monohull flyer, but as Xmas looms ever larger, look at it this way. Given this new super-record equates to a get-out-of town 35.45 knot average, you’d be in Hobart in just 17 hours and 43 minutes. Take that on! (N.B. Langman’s Team Australia sits at 29 hours 52 minutes and 23 seconds.) It’s barely enough time to clear the Heads, have the roast cooked and eaten, douse (furl) the Screecher and cross the line. Bet the rum would taste really good at the Customs House!

Also seems important to not only praise Gabart himself at this point, but also Macif herself, the masterful VPLP, her builders, spar makers and then also North Sails, whose 3Di Endurance wardrobe is powering her along, nautical mile after nautical mile. Pretty amazing stuff, and you can see the tracker right here. At the time of writing Gabart remains around 700nm in advance of Coville’s time.

Staying with the Ultimes for a while, and the man whose solo RTW record of 49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds is under threat, Thomas Coville, took out the Transat Jacques Vabre in record time, with fellow crewmember, Jean-Luc Nelias. They sailed 4,742 nautical miles at an average speed of 24.94 knots. This possibly seems slow to Coville, but they still managed to take two days, two hours, 31 minutes, and 16 seconds off Franck Cammas and Steve Ravussin’s previous record on Groupama 2.

Sodebo just beat the newest of all of these wicked machines, which is the impressive looking and almost as strikingly decorated, Edmond de Rothschild. The latter sailed further and faster, covering 4,838 nautical miles at an average speed of 25.21 knots, yet still finished 1 hour 47 minutes and 57 seconds astern. It would be fair to say Rothschild is still in work-up/shake-down mode, so this next generation craft could still set the world on fire in the next couple of years. Look out!

The news was not so brilliant for the Maxi80, Prince de Bretagne, who was dismasted 93 miles from the finish when the backstay ruptured. Doh! She was towed by the Brazilian authorities to Salvador de Bahia, which is good, because despite no injury to crew (Lionel Lemonchois and Bernard Stamm), and they amazingly recovered all the gear, they had no donk or generator, so it was good they were close to shore (something like 18nm off).

Ditching the two extra hulls as it were and off to the Volvo, now. The VOR fleet is sailing the 7,000 nm leg from Lisbon to Cape Town and is expected to arrive late Thursday or early Friday. As this gets written, brilliant veteran Australian navigator Andrew Cape has been the first navigator to pull the trigger, for in the last few hours Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel was the first boat to point towards Cape Town. The rest of the fleet was still heading Sou’west looking for more pressure, but Vestas 11th Hour Racing, four miles astern, then Mapfre and AkzoNobel all followed Capey’s lead and gybed in towards Cape Town. There ensues a 2500nm heavy running drag race in the OD VO65s.

So if that all seems too out there, then dragging it back in somewhat could well be sailconnect.com. I first met Brad McMaster a while back, and it was clear that having people engaged with our sport was a real passion for him. Specifically, and in his own words, “SailConnect was conceived to improve the way the sport of sailing communicates. If we are to increase participation and commitment, we need to reinvent the way the sport engages to break down those perceived barriers to entry.”

His own significant experience gave him a good perspective to work from, which is why the platform works around clubs and events. McMaster notes that in 2007 whilst managing crew on his boat for the Fastnet, this issue of managing and finding crew was very real. “Fast forward 10 years and SailConnect is now live with the mission of simplify boat administration for owners, help crew sail on more boats more regularly by creating crew mobility, and provide all clubs with a platform to manage participation and communicate with sailors…everywhere.”

You know he is on the right track when it comes to the much bandied about participation term. As McMaster notes, “In the 2015 census of sailing around 240,000 people participated in our sport, but only 50% of them did so more than three times a year. So we don’t necessarily have an issue bringing people to the sport, but clearly we do struggle to keep them engaged in the sport. What this suggests is that we don’t need to focus on the first ‘date’, we need to fix the second, third and fourth outing. This means we have to look at the way we engage with them, then we can work to introduce more people to the sport.”

SailConnect is a free platform to download, so skippers and crew alike can go and check it out here.

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