Editorial of magazine Multihulls World #207

As this issue goes to press, a sailor whose progress I’ve been tracking for 89 days is only 1,970 nautical miles from Brest, France, from where he set sail on December 23rd. Over these past three months, the solo skipper has rounded the three Great Capes. Yes, Guirec Soudée is completing a circumnavigation and is well on his way to setting a time of 95 days. If we compare this pace with that of François Gabart, who took just over 42 days to sail around our planet, it’s obviously not that impressive… But there you have it, our determined Breton is sailing against the wind and currents. Until now, no multihull has managed to meet this challenge. Sailing two-handed, Romain Pilliard and Alex Pella ran aground at the entrance to the Cook Strait after anchoring their trimaran to avoid a storm on the 34th day of their voyage – that was in 2022. Sailing solo, Yves Le Blévec capsized shortly after Cape Horn – that was in 2017. The “true” record for a solo, non-stop circumnavigation against the prevailing winds belongs to Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and his robust 85-foot (25.7 m) aluminum monohull. In 2024, the skipper successfully reached port after 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes, and 49 seconds. A record that remained unbroken for 22 years! Guirec Soudée is therefore expected to improve on this time by a month - no small feat! However, to protect his trimaran, which is inevitably much more fragile than a monohull specifically designed for this “program”, Guirec didn’t hesitate to skirt the Equator - he even sailed north of Tahiti! - to avoid boat-breaking weather systems. In the end, he will have covered almost twice the theoretical route - but that’s how he’ll finally seize the Holy Grail of sailing. All that remains is for me to welcome Guirec to Brest to share this extraordinary feat with you.

Enjoy the read, enjoy the video - and good luck voting for MOTY for those who haven’t yet!

Emmanuel van Deth
Publishing Director

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