François Gabart smashes the single-handed round the world record!

François 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, François Gabart 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.

The key news of the round the world record

Date of departure: Saturday 4 November, at 10:05 (French time, UTC+1)

Ouessant-Equator passage time: 05 d 20 h 45 min
Ouessant-Good Hope passage time: 11 d 20 h 10 min (new reference time outright)
Ouessant-Cape Agulhas passage time: 11 d 22 h 20 min (new reference time outright)
Ouessant-Cape Leeuwin passage time: 19 d 14 h 10 min (new reference time outright)
Ouessant-Cape Horn passage time: 29 d 03 h 15 min (new reference time outright)
Ouessant-Equator return: 36 d 01 h and 30 min (new reference time outright)

Equator-Equator passage time: 30 d 04 h and 45 min (new single-handed record)
Cape Horn-Equator passage time: 06 d 22 h and 15 min (new reference time outright)

24-hour distance record: 851 miles (14/11/2017)