Primonial has taken line honours and the Ocean Fifty multihull title in the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre race.
French pair Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben crossed the line in Martinique ahead of Koesio in second. Britain’s Sam Goodchild was third aboard Leyton.
Primonial took 15 days 13 hours 27 minutes and 14 seconds to cover the 5,800 theoretical miles from Le Havre to Martinique in the West Indies, averaging a speed of 15.4 knots. They actually covered 6,536.56 real miles at 17.50 knots.
Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben crossed the finish line in the dark of night, under a full moon and dampened by light rain to claim the Ocean Fifty title – the first of 150 boats still racing to cross the line near Martinique’s legendary Diamond rock.
Talking amidst the celebrations on board, Matthieu Souben told us, “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. It has required a lot of commitment, the chess game on the water started early. We gave it our all and are totally exhausted now.”
Koesio second
Two hours 27 minutes and 58 seconds later Koesio crossed the line in second place. Co-skippers Erwan Le Roux and Xavier Macaire took 15 days 15 hours 55 minutes and 12 seconds to cover the race distance.
Le Roux said, “To have a good regatta, you need good competitors and I think with the whole class it has been very close. There were no big gaps and the racing was intense. This second place suits us perfectly.”
Leyton third
The only non-French sailor in the Ocean Fifty class took third place, three hours 48 minutes and 29 seconds behind the winner. Britain’s Sam Goodchild and co-skipper Aymeric Chappellier on their boat Leyton took 15 days 17 hours 15 minutes and 43 seconds to cover the course.
Rankings November 23 at 08:00am:
Ocean Fifty
The top three have arrived
Class40
1. Redman – Distance to destination 1409,92
2. Crédit Mutuel – Distance to destination 1446,98
3. Volvo – Distance to destination 1448,33
IMOCA
1. LinkedOut – Distance to destination 688,67
2. Apivia – Distance to destination 851,47
3. Charal – Distance to destination 913,32
ULTIME
1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild – Distance to destination 94,52
2. Banque Populaire XI – Distance to destination 287,31
3. SVR – Lazartigue – Distance to destination 305,25
Current ETA in Martinique:
Ultime : Maxi Edmond de Rothschild 23th November at 10:00am UTC
Imoca : LinkedOut 25th November at 07:00am UTC
Class40 : Redman 30th November at 04:00am UTC
Follow the race at: http://www.transatjacquesvabre.org
