Beach Cat Crosses Atlantic in 12 Days

There’s no denying that the French are showing the world the way when it comes to ballsy ocean sailing. The day before Francis Joyon set the new 24-hour record with Idec, Benoit Lequin, 33, and Pierre-Yves Moreau, 35, two other Frenchmen, established a new transatlantic record for a . . . beach cat.

The very experienced duo sailed their 20-ft cat 2,700 miles from Dakar, Senegal, to Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, in just 11 days and 11 hours, breaking the old record by more than two days.

For sake of comparison, the first three boats to finish the 2,700 miles Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia, were the Matelot, a Southern Wind 80, which took 12 days, 15 hours; AAG Big One, a Volvo 70 that took 12 days, 13 hours; and Venemous, a Swan 86 that took 12 days, 13 hours.

Incroyable, no?