The magical arrival of the yacht at the bottom of the Liberty statue; the joy and the pleasure to enjoy a collective success alongside his five teammates, Pascal Bidégorry, Guillaume Combescure, Antoine Gautier, Benoît Marie and Yann Riou; the satisfaction of a well done job on board a magnificent boat; the race’s light airs and the headwinds; the preparation of a solo round the world... François Gabart, skipper MACIF, delivers the first words of the victory on this Centennial Transat.
An unforgettable arrival
"Arriving as the winner in New York, I have already experienced it last year (François Gabart had won The Transat-bakerly) but it's always the same: a good slap!" It is so beautiful and impressive, with helicopters and all those boats. It's something extraordinary to sail crewed until Manhattan. "It is unforgettable!"
A victory at several
"It's a collective pride. This project was launched without any expectation at all. Solo or crewed, we did great things, both in the preparation and in the implementation. It is a lot of happiness too. We had an amazing time even though we did not have a lot of wind. We had some nice high speed, that's what we like!”
The duo crew-boat
"We can't separate the boat to the crew, because in the race we are one." We have a beautiful boat and so is the crew. We work well together. These trimarans are abit more than just machines. We found a balance, a symbiosis with the crew on board. There is no intrinsic value of the boat without the crew. For us, it works well. We imagined this boat for me, solo. We know it well know, we make a good duo."
The weather conditions of the race
"The situation was different from the English Transat (The Transat-bakerly in 2016). Even if we have great boats, which travel very fast in the wind, we need a minimum of it, and we often had a lacked it during this transatlantic race. But it was a race, not a record! The objective was to arrive before the second, which we did. We're thrilled. We had some fun all together to move the boat, with different stories and experiences. We did a good job."
The match against Queen Mary 2
"We won this race facing other trimarans ultimate... But beating Queen Mary 2 in pure speed? It will be for next time! You're going to have to arrange a rematch! I am convinced that one day, whatever the weather, we'll go faster than a motorboat. We need a bit more time..."
Soon a solo round-the-world...
"Am I ready for a solo round-the-world? Yes and no. There are still a lot of work. In any case I should not be as much close-hauled as we were in this transatlantic race to break the record. More downind conditions will be needed. In terms of maneuvers, improvements can be made that I have not mastered completely yet. I will continue to work in order to navigate even better than what I do today."