A collective success
After 8d 00h 31mn and 20sec of racing since the start on Sunday 25th June, at 7pm, under the bridge in Saint-Nazaire, François Gabart and his five crew members - Pascal Bidégorry, Guillaume Combescure, Antoine Gautier, Benoît Marie and Yann Riou - have achieved a collective victory that is not lacking in panache, at the end of an unprecedented 3,152-mile (5,840 km) course, steeped in history, across the Atlantic Ocean, from East to West. They actually sailed 3,582 miles at an average of 18.61 knots against the prevailing winds.
A victory with high symbolic value
Although the six men were unable to compete on board their fabulous sailing machine against the Queen Mary 2, a 345 metre long steel giant and figurehead of the event, which steamed through the conditions that were not conducive to high speeds from the start in Saint-Nazaire, they did not have to give up their skills to take all the honours in this transatlantic race of high symbolic value, following the return of the American landings in 1917. After a crossing that was mostly sailed against headwinds and at the highest level of oceanic competition, François Gabart and his crew won against two serious and tough competitors, IDEC SPORT (Francis Joyon), Sodebo Ultim' (Thomas Coville), themselves followed by Actual (Yves Le Blévec).
Three's a crowd...
François Gabart, who has already won the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre in 2015 and the solo Transat (The Transat-bakerly) last year, has scored another victory aboard his sailing giant, the latest of the four Ultimates trimarans to take part in this unique race. At 34 years old, he adds another line to his impressive list of achievements. Alongside his family, he did not hide his joy, and appreciated as he should, off the Statute of Liberty, the flavour of this collective success at the end of a race conducted collectively
Texte issu du communiqué de presse du trimaran MACIF
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