Guillemot qualifies

French former 60ft trimaran skipper completes Route du Rhum 1000 mile passage aboard former Kingfisher Open 60

Marc Guillemot and his Open 60 Safran have qualified for this year's Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale singlehanded transatlantic race starting from St Malo on October 29. Former 60ft trimaran skipper Guillemot left on 2 May from La Trinité-sur-Mer for his solo qualifying run of 1,000 nautical miles, sailing the well-known boat that as Kingfisher Ellen MacArthur sailed to second place in the 2000-1 Vendee Globe and Nick Moloney raced four years later.

During his qualifier Guillemot encountered a wide variety of weather conditions, including a depression that forced him to change his initial route and tack south, towards Spain, before heading back for his home port. Guillemot and Safran as the boat is now known completed their passage in 3 days and 21 hours.

“I had targeted a point 500 nautical miles west, but at the 400-mile point I reached the middle of a depression with high seas and a wind dropping from 25 to 0 knots,” explains the skipper. “Based on the daily weather reports I was getting from Météo France, I decided to head towards Spain, after informing the Route du Rhum Race Committee of my decision 0 which turned out to be the right one! I spent nearly a day and a half under the spinnaker, tacking back and forth, and I had never sailed at that speed solo, on this boat. Our qualification is great in more ways than one; I also improved my overall understanding of how this boat functions. With the qualification under my belt I’m under less pressure and I’ll be more available to work on the new Safran monohull now being built, and to proceed with my training.”

Currently Guillemot has a new Opn 60 under construction to a design by talented up and coming architect Guillaume Verdier and trimaran designer Marc van Peteghem/Vincent Lauriot Prevost.

Safran is an international high-technology group with four core businesses: aerospace propulsion, aircraft equipment, defense security, communications. It has 58,000 employees in over 30 countries, and annual revenues exceeding 10 billion euros. SAFRAN comprises a number of companies with prestigious brand names, and holds, alone or in partnership, global or European leadership positions in all of its markets.