Golden Boy Gabart Does It Again
‘Golden Boy’ François Gabart has done it again. The 33-year-old Frenchman continues to cement his place at the very top level of sailing with another major race victory, this time claiming line honors in the Transat Bakerly from Plymouth, UK, to New York. Sailing into the Big Apple in a time of 8 days, 8 hours and 54 minutes, Gabart finished just 25 minutes off Michel Desjoyeaux’s record-setting time from the 2004 edition of the race, which sailed a slightly shorter course into Boston. Sailing an atypical southerly course across the Atlantic, Gabart enjoyed extremely fast downwind sailing conditions for much of the race while battling close to, oftentimes within sight of, Thomas Coville on Sodebo, who finished nearly ten hours behind Gabart.
The Vendée Globe- and Route du Rhum-winning Gabart was on record pace until the very end, only slowed by light airs during his final day of sailing into New York. With his new 100-ft VPLP trimaran Macif designed exclusively for smashing solo-sailing records, Gabart is now two for two in transatlantic races, having also won the Transat Jacques Vabre last fall alongside co-skipper Pascal Bidégorry. This victory is Francois’ first solo win on a maxi-trimaran, sailing the same boat that he will use in 2017 to attempt to break Francis Joyon’s outright solo round-the-world record, as well as every other major solo record.
Elsewhere in the fleet, the Multi 50 trimarans are making their final approach into New York, with Gilles Lamiré on FrenchTech Rennes St. Malo now just 760 miles out and in a commanding position to win. His biggest competitors have both sustained damage, the latest of whom is Lalou Roucayrol on Arkema, which hit a UFO and damaged a daggerboard. Roucayrol and his team are now searching for a routing solution that will incorporate more downwind sailing and allow him to hold onto second place over Pierre Antoine on Olmix.
The IMOCA 60s are still locked into a thrilling battle, with Armel le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire VIII and Vincent Riou on PRB separated by some 40 miles with just 700 miles of race track left. The new foiling-generation IMOCA Banque Populaire VIII has the advantage for now, but anything can happen upon approach to New York. As winds typically get lighter near shore, this may benefit the wily old dog Riou and his lighter ‘classic’ IMOCA PRB.
Frenchwoman Isabelle Joschke leads a 10-boat Class 40 division over hard-charging Briton Phil Sharp, who has served his six-hour stop-and-go penalty for sailing into one of the exclusion zones earlier in the race. Armel Tripon’s Blackpepper is the latest Class 40 to sustain damage, and has since retired into Horta, Azores.
In his 50th transatlantic crossing, Latitude 38 favorite Loïck Peyron on Pen Duick II leads Eric Tabarly’s reference time from 1964 by a substantial margin.