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For now on he is leading the race

Intel and French Skipper Francois Gabart Team up with Trimaran MACIF

The new 100-foot trimaran MACIF was built to set records and win some of sailing’s most iconic trans-Atlantic solo races, including the Transat bakerly. Skipper Francois Gabart is the current world record holder for racing solo around the world non-stop, having won the Vendee Globe with a different boat in 2013. With the new 100-foot MACIF, Gabart is aiming to win the Transat bakerly and then go on to set more records. (Credit: ©Jean-Marie Liot / DPPI / Macif)

Twenty-five world-class sailors from around the world set off today on a solo 3,000-mile race across the Atlantic Ocean. Competitors include Francois Gabart and his massive new 100-foot trimaran, MACIF. Gabart is the current world record holder for sailing around the world alone, having won the prestigious Vendee Globe with another boat in 2013.

Intel and Gabart have been collaborating on a technology partnership over the past few years and are expanding the relationship in 2016 with the new MACIF. Gabart will be attempting to set trans-Atlantic sailing records with MACIF during the coming year, following the legendary Transat bakerly between Plymouth, England, and New York City, which started today.

In addition to being designed with the aid of powerful Intel® Xeon®-based servers, the MACIF is outfitted with a ruggedized Core™ i7-based mini-computer, which powers the navigation system and serves as the central “brain” for the boat. A unique binaural immersive audio system for communicating ship to shore was also designed by Intel engineers and researchers at Aachen University in Germany, and there are a variety of additional technology enhancements to the boat coming in 2016.