WINNING THE SPACE RACE

‘They did Pilates on the aft deck, baked bread and shot GoPro videos’

Something big has happened in ocean sailing. It could be the tipping point in the 34-year history of the ARC transatlantic rally, when multihulls transmogrify from minority element to ruling party.

When a cruising catamaran sailed by four people in their sixties can beat a larger one-design round the world racer with a crew of 15, and many even bigger, you realise something has changed – maybe for good.

Just after midnight on 7 December 2019, Régis Guillemot, his partner Véronique, and two friends fizzed across the finish line in St Lucia in Guillemot’s 55ft cruising catamaran, Hallucine. It had taken them just 11 days and 16 hours.

“Our boat is very quick, very simple and fast, and we are optimised for light weight,” explains the quietly spoken French sailor.

His other half just laughs. “For him, there is full speed ahead, or nothing!”

Hallucine had sailed from Gran Canaria at an average of 12.5 knots, while the crew did Pilates on the aft deck each day, baked bread and shot GoPro videos (you can see their video diary ‘Fastest family catamaran across the Atlantic’ on the Yachting World YouTube channel).

Around 10 hours later came , a VO65 from the Austrian Ocean Race Project crewed by 12 Slovenian charter sailors and three professionals. What a