concluded. ‘The irony is that if Alex was French he would probably already have enough backing to race the Vendée Globe…’ Alex Pella ended up by slicing 1d 5h 23m off the previous Class40 record. He also becomes the first Spanish sailor to finish first in any class in the Rhum which was first raced in 1978. And, by extension, he is the first Spanish sailor to win a solo ocean race. On the dock, looking absolutely delighted, Pella said: ‘Now I am so happy. To win the race you have to finish and it was really only when I crossed the line that I realised that I could finally relax. I finished this morning having had to run off, climb the forestay and sort out a major drama with the A2 spinnaker… Not ideal but at least I had the luxury of a substantial lead. ‘The whole race was really hard, the rhythm is very intense. The first two nights were especially hard, I broke the Solent and then repaired it the next day, losing a lot of distance off Ushant to my closest rivals.’
Eleven of the 43 Class40s retired. On the beginning of the first night a drama occurred on the two (very) new Sabrosa Mk 2s. These designs feature a fabricated keel fin with metallic skins screwed together like on an aeroplane. Much lighter than a regular solid fin but clearly rather suspect… The problem occurred at the top of the fins at the attachment point within the keel recess. The screws simply broke. Both boats were recovered, although François Angoulvant’s had capsized and was towed home upside down.
The last damage registered in the Class40 happened on 21 November, when the race’s youngest skipper, 19-year-old Paul Hignard, informed race control that his boat Bruneau had suffered a broken mast between the first and second spreader. However, he made it clear that he was not seeking assistance, before duly erecting a nice jury rig and making it to Pointe à Pitre to complete the course. Bravo.
So was the 10th Rhum particularly devastating? The answer is no. About a fourth of the fleet did not reach Guadeloupe – which is about average in the history of the race. In 2002, the worst edition of the Rhum, 28 of the 58 entries did not reach the finishing line.
Loïck Peyron, winner of the race in a record time (all the classes set record times!), was 55 years old on 1 December – the oldest sailor to have won the Route du Rhum (Mike Birch was 47 when he triumphed in 1978). In some way the victory of experience is cocking a nice ‘snook’ at the youngsters. Regular Banque Populaire skipper Armel Le Cléac’h and weather expert Marcel Van Triest were permanently in contact with Loïck during the Atlantic crossing. Armel said the decisive moment occurred around Madeira at the end of day two…
‘We asked Loïck to make a big push because it was crucial to sail fast during the following 12 hours,’ said Armel. ‘He was already tired because he had had virtually no rest since the start. At that point the boat was still under ORC jib and two reefs in the main because of the severe early conditions, but we told him that he must now set the full main and open up the gennaker. It took him a very hard two hours to complete the operation. ‘However, we were soon celebrating because BP VII then rapidly cleared away from its closest rival, the 40m Spindrift 2.’ Thereafter, Loïck was never threatened.
Another story that was played down by the Banque Populaire team is that rushing through Biscay in rough conditions some crack- ing had appeared in the front crossbeam of the giant trimaran. Loïck sent pictures to his team who estimated that the weather conditions for the following days should not worsen the damage. However, Armel Le Cléach nevertheless did later admit that a full 10 days of repair work were required on the beam in Guadeloupe before the boat set out back to Brittany… Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND
Confirmation of the America’s Cup’s worst-kept secret brought with it a mixed bag of positives and negatives for Emirates Team New Zealand. Entirely reliant on commercial and government backing, the team made no secret of a preference for a North American venue for the 2017 contest, but was fully prepared for the Bermuda announcement. A big positive was reference in the official
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