Vendée Globe

The Istanbul Europa Race, which finished off Brest was a crewed race with stopovers around Europe. While the number of competitors taking part was rather disappointing, the quality of the competitors was certainly present. In the end, the winner, as is often the case, was a certain Michel Desjoyeaux.

Six boats lined up for the start in Istanbul for this race around Europe, with the fleet heading for Brest via Nice and Barcelona. Among those lining up there was Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), but also Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) sailing for the final time aboard his Farr designed boat, Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), Marc Thiercelin (DCNS) and a Spanish crew entering the IMOCA circuit, led by Guillermo Altadill (1876) aboard Loïck Peyron's former boat. In other words, some top names, particularly as those accompanying them have also had some fine successes in the Figaro circuit, like Gildas Morvan, François Gabart, Eric Drouglazet or Sébastien Audigane, holder of the round the world and the North Atlantic records.

The Mediterranean lived up to its reputation: in general, the sailors spent more time looking for wind and trying to avoid the wind shadow than actually going for all out racing. However, this did not stop the race from being very exciting with three different leg winners and a few surprises as we look forward to the Transat Jacques Vabre.

The first names that come to mind are those of the winners of the first leg, the Spanish crew of 1876, Guillermo Altadill and Pachi Rivero, who battled it out with the other competitors, who might not have been expecting so much of this crew taking part for the first time aboard an IMOCA 60. The second element that stands out is that they all had more or less the same level in this race, as the position of leader changed with each ranking and the final result was far from a certainty until a few hours before the finish. We could clearly see that with three different winners in three legs, 1876, Groupe Bel then Foncia. In the end, Michel Desjoyeaux came top of the rankings on points, as the three aforementioned boats were on equal footing with him as they set out on the final leg from Barcelona – Brest. Whoever won this final leg would automatically win the race.

We can certainly say that this was a very exciting race and that the crews particularly appreciated it. The format of a crewed race with stopovers proved to be extremely interesting in terms of those taking part, marking for the older entrants a return to the spirit of the Round Europe Race from the golden age of the nineties. We should leave the final word to the winner of this edition, which should encourage others to sign up in the future. "In fact this crewed race with stopovers corresponded to a demand from the Imoca class: this is a winning formula. I may be repeating myself, but I hope we proved that those, who weren't in the race, should have been there."
 

Infos précédentes :