He says he “can’t wait to rest a little”. We understand this confidence from Guirec Soudée by looking at the feat that the Breton sailor has just accomplished this Saturday. At 34, Guirec Soudée completed an upside-down tour of the world, from east to west, in 94 days, 21 hours and 58 minutes, crossing the virtual finish line at 9:34 a.m. on Saturday, located between the island of Ouessant (Finistère) and Cape Lizard, at the southwest tip of England.
He thus crushed the previous record by almost a month and became the fastest skipper in an upside-down circumnavigation of the world, against prevailing winds and currents, aboard the maxi-trimaran MACSF.
“It happened at crazy speed”
Since his departure on December 23, Guirec Soudée has traveled more than 37,670 miles (approximately 70,000 km) around the planet. He dethrones Vendée sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who set the previous record in 2004, in 122 days and 14 hours, aboard the monohull Adrien.
“It happened at crazy speed,” Guirec Soudée reacted from his trimaran, in an audio message sent to the press, saying he had tears in his eyes as he crossed the finish line.
“I am very happy, very moved and also very relieved to have finished (…) I come back with a boat that is a little tired but which is still valiant and which has been very strong and has never let me down,” he added.
“Happy to see my record broken in my lifetime”
The young father becomes the sixth skipper to complete such a world tour and the first to do so in a multihull, where his predecessors had all used a monohull, a more stable support and resistant to the difficult conditions imposed by this contraflow route.
He should arrive around 2 p.m. in the port of Brest, where Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, 80, will wait for him on the pontoon, among a crowd of sailing enthusiasts.
“I’m happy for him, happy to see my record broken in my lifetime. It’s still been 22 years! », Confided this sailing figure to AFP, during an interview given mid-week.
A very long journey
The journey was not easy for Guirec Soudée who became known to the general public during a trip around the world between 2014 and 2018 with his hen Monique, followed by a double rowing across the Atlantic (2020-2021).
To bypass the depressions facing it, and benefit from stronger winds, it traveled 15,500 nautical miles (around 29,000 km) more than its predecessor 22 years ago.
“I practically did the normal route twice but I made it to the end! And that’s what counts! », Launched Guirec Soudée.
“I would have gone all the way no matter what”
After Cape Horn in January, he had to go far north, far from the most direct route, to avoid too rough conditions and preserve his boat.
The sailor was then forced to sail for several weeks with a starboard rudder damaged by a collision with fishing gear after the Cape of Good Hope, an area which almost cost his attempt dearly.
Despite these adventures, “I never thought about giving up, I would have gone to the end whatever happened”, underlined the skipper, saying he was lucky because “there is a real element of luck in this type of adventure”.
Next stop, the Route du Rhum
The round-the-world record in “classic” sailing, that is to say sailing towards the East, was established last January by Thomas Coville and his teammates in 40 days and 10 hours, during the Jules Verne Trophy.
The solo record is held by Charente sailor François Gabart, in 42 days and 16 hours.
Guirec Soudée, who finished 23rd in the last Vendée Globe, tackled the round-the-world trip in reverse aboard Olivier de Kersauson’s former Géronimo, launched in 2001, redesigned in 2012-2013, and renamed Ultim MACSF. Guirec Soudée is due to take part in the Route du Rhum, a transatlantic race linking Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe, in November. But before that, “I’m looking forward to being able to rest a little,” he said on Saturday.
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