After more than twenty days at sea the difference between fourth ( Britain’s Sam Davies on Initiatives Coeur) and fifth (an all-French crew aboard Arkéa-Paprec) in the Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA class was just 21 minutes 40 seconds.
Italian Pedote took sixth (Prysmian Group).
After a long and hard fought battle all the way up the Brazilian coast to the finish line in Martinique, Sébastien Simon and Yann Eliès sailed their 60 foot monohull, Arkéa-Paprec, to a fourth place finish. They completed the course in 20 days 17 hours 8 minutes and 30 seconds covering 6,670.9 miles at an average speed of 13.42 knots.
Sam Davies and co-skipper Nico Lunven will be very pleased with their fifth place, considering the age of their boat Initiatives Coeur which was built in 2010. Their race stats are evidence of a skilful performance. They covered a total distance of 6,440.1 miles, averaging 12.94 knots. Davies has a new boat on the way and this result will act as a shot over the bows of her rivals.
Davies said after crossing the line, “I think if someone had told me that we were going to be playing alongside the new boats for the whole race, I wouldn’t have believed it. We are super proud.
“It was a hard and long race. It went very well on board. The magic of ocean racing is that we never stop learning. This was my third Transat Jacques Vabre with this boat and I never get bored.”
Davies and Lunven’s 20 days at sea also raised enough money for a further 26 children to receive life-changing heart surgery as part of the Initiatives Coeur campaign.
About one hour 45 minutes behind Initiatives Coeur came Italian Giancarlo Pedote and co-skipper Martin Lepape (Prysmian Group). They guided their boat to sixth place having covered a total of 6,464.13 miles at an average of 12.95 knots.
A seventh IMOCA also crossed the line Sunday morning. Fortinet-Best Western sailed by Romain Attanasio and Sebastien Marsset took seventh place 20 days 20 hours 10 minutes and 10 seconds after leaving Le Havre on November 7.
As the IMOCAs continued to cross the line, the three leading boats and their crews were honoured at the official prize-giving ceremony in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
The IMOCA podium :
1. LinkedOut (Thomas Ruyant – Morgan Lagravière)
2. Apivia (Charlie Dalin – Paul Meilhat)
3. Charal (Jérémie Beyou – Christopher Pratt)
The ceremony was also an opportunity to honour Apivia for her victory in the IMOCA Globe Series 2021 circuit. Apivia’s second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre race sealed the overall season title following wins in the Rolex Fastnet (in August) and the Défi Azimut (in September). Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat beat LinkedOut who finished second on 131 points – 12 points behind Apivia.
Rankings (November 28 at 4pm)
Ocean Fifty
All boats have arrived in Fort-de-France.
1. Primonial
2. Koesio
3. Leyton
Ultime
All boats have arrived in Fort-de-France.
1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
2. SVR – Lazartigue
3. Banque Populaire XI
IMOCA
10. Nexans – Art et Fenêtres – Distance to destination 7,71 milles
11. Groupe Apicil – Distance to destination 50,98 milles
12. MACSF – Distance to destination 73,45 milles
Class40
1. Redman – Distance to destination 263,33 milles
2. Banque du Léman – Distance to destination 290,01 milles
3. Seafrigo – Sogestran – Distance to destination 294,57 milles
Redman is the first Class 40 expected in Fort-de-France on Monday 29th at 15h00 UTC.
Follow the race at: http://www.transatjacquesvabre.org
