MainSail

SHOW #71

Around the World Record

This month, MainSail comes from the tiny French island of Ushant, famous in sailing as one end of the start and finish line for round-the-world sailing speed records. Host Shirley Robertson witnesses history being made, as a ten-person crew, with French skipper Franck Cammas at the helm of giant multihull Groupama, is the first team ever to complete a non-stop lap of the planet by sail in less than fifty days. This crew smashed a record that had stood for five years, when French sailing legend Bruno Peyron and his team completed the journey in fifty days. Shirley heads out on the water with Peyron to welcome the new record breakers home, and to put the achievement in perspective, she meets the first person ever to sail round-the-world non-stop, Sir Robin Knox Johnston. He completed his voyage in 1969 after three hundred and thirteen days at sea.