The Swiss sailor Alan Roura has set a new provisional monohull solo record time of 7 days, 16 hours and 55 minutes on the classic New York  to the Lizard course. Subject to ratification he breaks the existing record which was held held by Marc Guillemot by more than 12 hours

It is something he is proud of. One of his major assets is his wide range of skills. After growing up in the French West Indies, where he got the bug for ocean racing after seeing the finishes of the Route du Rhum and the Mini-Transat, he made his way to Toulon on the coast of the Mediterranean. The large naval port in the Var became his base, from where he would set off on his adventures.

 

In the Spring, Nicolas Troussel’s sponsor presented the methods used to develop Corum L’Epargne. Time to take a look at what happens in the world of boat designing…

When research and development intelligence is specific to and developed for one particular IMOCA 60 project it can be important to withhold information about any gains for as long as possible. There is always a delicate equation to be balanced up. Innovate early and risk teams working to a later schedule learning about your gains and incorporating them into their design. Or alternatively you can run as late as possible but potentially you may need to compromise on reliability.