Wax on. Wax off.

by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS on 13 Nov 2017 Back then I was quite speechless. You can check it out in the piece entitled, Utterly Speechless. Now I am certainly the same, save for there is so much going on that you are compelled to say something. Not just anything, mind you, but certainly something.

It is François Gabart’s turn now, and he has to be back before 1309hrs local on December 23, 2017 if he is to beat Thomas Coville’s record from last Xmas of 49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds for the full lap. (If he does, Gabart will become just the fourth record holder with Joyon, MacArthur and Coville.) Macif set off from Ouessant last weekend (Nov 4) and crossed the Equator within the week, which is something even the Great Liners would have been impressed with. Of course QM2 won The Bridge this year to show that the new generation of big girls still have something to offer like their famous and now scrapped sisters, but the trip back to Europe in favourable conditions set records, most notably with IDEC Sport.

Seems the Atlantic is looking to assist Macif even further as they push on to the Cape of Good Hope. Yet it is the mighty Pacific that needs to be highlighted here, for this is where Coville charged across the entire expanse of the largest ocean on earth at the best part of 30 knots. Just take that in for a second, and pause to reflect that this is on your own, with Huey paying scant regard to your sleep or comfort. Gabart said recently, “Fortunately, I met the strong winds when it was still daylight, so it was easier to handle.”

It is a long way down, around Antarctica and back again, but just like a long road trip, your average is what will get you there. Stopping for coffee breaks simply isn’t going to cut it. Gabart didn’t get too close to Coville’s effort on reaching the equator (5 days 17 hours 11 minutes and 52 seconds), but is still upbeat. His routing has him with a “…sailing time of 6-7 days to the Cape of Good Hope.” This should mean he arrives there on Day 13, when Coville took 14.

Impressively, Macif has already hit 46 knots, and Gabart has said, “The boat is capable of extraordinary speeds. At 30 knots, I feel like I’m getting nowhere! We sail at 35-40 knots a lot of the time, and I have spent minutes and even hours above 40 knots. That’s 70 km/hr. That’s amazing for a boat! We often talk about flying, and there really are many times when nothing touches the water, except the foil. When the boat lifts up from the water and accelerates the sensations are incredible. I’m impatient to experience this again.” Ah, like yeah, Sure you are. Sure you are. Why wouldn't you be!

So at the same time you also have the Ultime Trimarans Sodebo and Edmond de Rothschild hooning across the Atlantic, two-handed this time. The latter is much newer of course, and doesn’t it look it. They are all powered by North Sails 3Di Endurance, and some of the sails have already completed many a lap of the planet, and yet are still going better than strong. Pretty much they do not look used at all, which says a lot, and more than handy when you are relying on them to win/set records/keep you safe/return home to the glory.

‘Right turn, Clyde!’ So if you’re an Eastwood fan, the goofball Orangutan with the cheesy grin, that put the fist out the window to mark a change of course, just like a semaphore blinker on a really old car, seemed like a great way to demarcate a new direction here.

Appears the JATO rockets have well and truly worked, and got the good ship SuperFoiler very much doing the up, up and away thing. If you’re a lounge music fan you’ll now be humming the Andy Williams hit all day! You can thank me later… Anyway, we very much look forward to hearing about it all in due course, but for now we know that the armada is sitting in Nowra, with Hull#6 just about to leave the jig and join its siblings on a dolly. This could mean that they are even slightly ahead of their own challenging timeline. Now that’s more than kinda cool!

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