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was set at a theoretical distance of 5,800 miles but the French pair actually covered 6,691.3nm and averaged 15.44kt. Thomas speak- ing after crossing the line said, ‘I had a lot of fun on the water with Morgan. It’s a great sporting experience, these are rare moments. But this victory has been in the making for several months, for several years in fact, and is all thanks to the great team working on this project. We are simply happy! ‘Not everything was perfect but overall we won with panache,
with speed and very nice strategies. Morgan was the man, the sailor we were waiting for. He moved us forward. The boat was perfect. All our changes following our previous races proved to be sensible. The rest was energy, what level of commitment we were willing to put in to win. And it was huge. We didn’t rest for a minute. On such a long transat it’s impressive, but that’s where the complementary partnership with Morgan played to the full. He has a crazy talent.’ Along with his partner, Paul Meilhat, Charlie Dalin crossed the
finish line aboard their boat Apivia20h 12m 21s behind the winner, her near-sistership LinkedOut. The pair covered 6,642.18nm at an average of 14.64kt. Dalin said, ‘We set out to try to take the Fastnet- TJV double (actually the triple because Charlie took line honours in the Vendée Globe) but we were missing perhaps two or three ingredients, a touch of strategy, a touch of speed in certain con ditions. Maybe a touch of luck!’
LinkedOut, but no one can doubt that Apivia has been the dominant force in the Imoca class. Not surprisingly they are crowned Imoca champions for 2021. Dalin and Meilhat took part in three of the four races in the 2021 championship. They skipped the Ocean Race Europe but won the Rolex Fastnet Race in August, repeated that feat in the Défi Azimut 48-hour race a month later and then followed up with second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre.
Ocean Fifty An older boat beat all the new designs! French pair Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben on Primonial crossed the line in Martinique ahead of Koesio in second. Britain’s Sam Goodchild was third aboard Leyton. The old Guillaume Verdier design (like the winners in the Imoca and Ultime classes), built by JPS shipyard, cov- ered 6,536.56nm at 17.5kt (the theoretical course was 5,800nm). Matthieu Souben said, ‘We’re very emotional right now. We didn’t
expect it to be easy, we said before the start that there were no favourites. It’s a really great race but it has been hard because it has been long – longer than expected in the light winds this year. The chess game on the water started early… there was no time to relax at all. We gave it our all and are totally exhausted now.’ Primonial took a clear lead when she chose a westerly course
at the level of the Canary Islands; 2h 27m 58s behind Primonial, Koesio crossed the line in second. Co-skipper Erwan Le Roux (he sailed with Xavier Macaire) said: ‘To have a good regatta you need good competitors and the whole class has been very close, much closer than in the old days. There were no big gaps and now the racing in this class is intense. Second for us is fine!’ Britain’s Sam Goodchild was the only non-French sailor in the
Ocean Fifty class, racing with Aymeric Chappellier on Leyton. Straight after crossing the line Goodchild told us: ‘It was our first transatlantic race on this type of boat. These are extraordinary boats that can go very fast, so you have to be careful. They are very light but also very powerful so they get quite nervous when the water is not flat. ‘We learned a lot about this boat… and ourselves!’
The one that got away. After leading the first part of the TJV in the Imocas, for the first time in a while Charlie Dalin (above) and co-skipper Paul Meilhat on Apivia had to settle for second best behind Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière on LinkedOut; but no great disaster for Guillaume Verdier, who designed both boats, as he did the winning Ocean Fifty and Ultime trimarans…
Apivia led in the early stages but from Day 5 the lead changed
many times between the leading three boats, Apivia, LinkedOut and Charal. ‘We are quite happy with this second place. The way the front three stretched out at the end made it impossible to come back. But it was a very intense three-boat race,’ conceded Dalin. Beyou and Pratt, third on Charal, took 19d 14h 59m 36s, covering
6,574.22nm at 13.96kt. Her gap to the winner, LinkedOut, was 1d 13h 38m 26s… nearly 18 hours behind Apivia. Beyou said, ‘You have to be satisfied with a podium finish when
there are great winners like Thomas and Morgan – big congratu- lations to them. The gaps between the boats don’t necessarily reflect the differences in level, the weather made things very difficult.’ Despite the fair weather two of the 22 Imocas, Bureau Vallée
and 11th Hour Racing, were dismasted early in the race. Perhaps as the skippers get better at using their latest huge foils the righting moments continue to increase… along with the loadings in the rigs. This is something the class will now look at very carefully because a lot of new boats are being built for the 2024 Vendée Globe (at least 11, perhaps more!!). Dalin and Meilhat may have finished second in the TJV to
26 SEAHORSE
Class40 The Class40 victory has gone to the Sam Manuard-designed Mach40.4 Redman, co-skippered by Frenchman Antoine Carpentier (who is also Patrice’s nephew – ed) and Pablo Santurde del Arco of Spain. Second place went to another Mach40.4, the Swiss entry Banque du Léman, and third to the new Pogo Seafrigo- Sogestran, designed by Guillaume Verdier. Antoine and Pablo finished in just under 22 days, covering 5,502.96nm at an impressive – in the light conditions – average of 10.45kt. With the latest Verdier design going so fast just weeks after its
launch and new Class40s on the way from Manuard and David Raison the next seasons in Class40 will be quite interesting. All of the Class40s struggled in the light airs to begin with. The
fastest period was sailing down the Portuguese coast when the winds reached a maximum of only 27kt. The leaders remained bunched together for a long time, with little to separate them, but the Redman pair then pulled off a great move at the Canary Islands that gave them a small lead… which turned out to be enough. From there they stretched away in front and were never overtaken. ‘We didn’t want to take too many risks early on, which compro-
mised our performance during the first night off Cherbourg. But then we worked hard to get back into the game. Once we sneaked ahead it was just a matter of controlling the race,’ said Carpentier. Antoine and Pablo extended their advantage, spending more
time than normal hand-steering as they tried to protect their initial small margin – not an easy task given other problems they were having. ‘We had to steer 80 per cent of the time. On the one hand, for performance when the sea was choppy, but also because we never had enough power [their solar panels needed more sun] and the autopilot is very energy consuming,’ admits Carpentier. Pablo Santurde del Arco highlighted some other problems for
the race winners: ‘It was difficult, but that’s what we came for. Antoine and I have known each other for a long time but we have
JEAN-LOUIS CARLI/ALEA
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