Solo circumnavigation: "He is a giant": fabulous record for François Gabart

He has circumnavigated the world alone in the second-fastest time ever sailed: François Gabart has arrived. And how! With his Vendée Globe victory in 2013, Gabart had already catapulted himself into the hearts of his fellow countrymen as the new French solo sailing hero. At the time, he was only 29 years old and was one of the youngest in the field. With his performance today, the 34-year-old from Saint Michel has made himself the new fixed star in the firmament of single-handed sailing - and will probably continue to shine there indefinitely. Gabart completed the "Course au Large", the classic lap around the world, on his trimaran "Macif" in an incredible 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds.

Gabart's solo time was just over two days slower than Francis Joyon and his entire crew on the 31.5 metre trimaran "Idec Sport", who won the Jules Verne Trophy in January 2017 with the fastest time ever sailed around the world. Joyon and his co-sailors achieved this feat almost a year ago with an average speed of 21.96 knots in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

Gabart pulverised Thomas Coville's previous solo world record on the 36.58-metre VPLP trimaran "Sodebo" today with his 30-metre newly built trimaran "Macif", beating it by 6 days, 10 hours, 23 minutes and 53 seconds! Coville had circumnavigated the world around a year ago at an average speed of 18.36 knots in 49 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds. At the time, experts thought Coville's new record would be hard to beat in the foreseeable future. How wrong you can be.

François Gabart has proved everyone wrong. Weather router Jean-Yves Bernot has guided his compatriot, who first crossed the Atlantic under sail at the age of six and whose passion for extreme single-handed sailing has grown steadily ever since, perfectly through the world's oceans. With his record, as the Breton daily newspaper "Sud Ouest" noted, Gabart has once again "pushed boundaries". The sailing world bows before this man. Gabart himself said shortly before crossing the finish line: "It's a difficult record to set - especially with the time set by Thomas Coville. It was a great competition." After crossing the finish line, his emotions almost got the better of him. One of the first sentences: "I think I've just made it. But I'll let you calculate that ..."

The fans chose more drastic words. On social media on Sunday night, they were overflowing with praise such as "He's a giant", "It's incredible, simply magical!" or "A great man and a great sailor!". Everyone agreed on one thing: "It's an incredible record." Gabart and "Macif" are expected to arrive in Brest at around 11 a.m. on Sunday for the jubilee party.

And that is the new record!