Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2017 21:26:22 GMT
This morning around 3am, François Gabart pulverised the round the world solo sailing record at 42 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes. A huge crowd awaited him when he sailed in Brest later this morning. This was a little less than one year after Thomas Coville broke the previous record after 49 days, 3 hours and 7 minutes. Obviously, the technology of the boats is assisting these guys in breaking records, but the thought of sailing around the world solo is already incredible in itself.
I have never had a great interest in sailing, but I am in complete admiration of these records, because there are not all that many possibilities left for people to achieve goals such as this all by themselves. In the sailing world, it seems that almost only the French and the British have this passion. Once word gets out of the arrival, there is often a crowd of 100,000 peole waiting for the sailor to come into port. I'm not sure exactly why, but I want to be part of the crowd next time.
I'll be happy to jump on the first train to Brest when a future arrival is announced. I was already thrilled just to see Thomas Coville's boat on my last trip to Brest.
