Return on The Transat Bakerly 2016
The Transat Bakerly ended on May 25, 2016 with the arrival of Japan's Hiroshi Kitada in New York, aboard the Class40 Kiho. In fact, he became the first Japanese sailor to finish the race after 22 days, 18 hours and 3 minutes at sea. "I am very happy, I can't find the words to express what I really feel. I didn't understand why everyone was asking me why I had chosen to take part in this race to get into ocean racing. But I quickly understood how difficult it was after I started ", Kitada said as he went ashore in Manhattan.
Credit : Laurent Apollon
The Japanese sailor reached New York 14 days behind Gabart who won after a leeward crossing of the Atlantic in just 8 days, 8 hours and 54 minutes, at an average speed of 23.11 knots, three times faster than Kitada.
The majority of the skippers were French and there were participants from five other nations, including two Germans and two British. Six skippers - or a quarter of the fleet - retired. For almost all the skippers, with the exception of the Ultimates, there was a big storm in the North Atlantic to negotiate and then a series of smaller lows.
The Transat bakerly featured some fascinating match-ups between some of the world's best sailors, including François Gabart and Thomas Coville in the Ultimates, Armel Le Cléac'h and Vincent Riou at the head of the IMOCA 60 fleet, and a three-way battle at the head of the Class40 fleet between eventual winner Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, and Isabelle Joschke and Phil Sharp.
From now on, all the boats are safe in New York harbor except for Loïck Peyron, who left from Plymouth on Eric Tabarly's old ketch, Pen Duick II. His goal was to pay tribute to Tabarly by completing the same race on the same boat on which the sailor had won in 1964.
However, the difficult conditions in the North Atlantic took their toll on Pen Duick II, which suffered damage to its props and forced Loïck Peyron to turn back while it was on its 13th e day at sea and halfway to America. The "modern legend" of French sailing should arrive in Quiberon this Thursday, May 26, to be able to repair the wounds of his "old girl".
Foils, the future of the Imoca boats
Among the closely watched duels, Armel le Cléac'h on the Banque Populaire foiler and Vincent Riou on the more classic PRB. The margin of victory for le Cléac'h was not huge, but he took control of PRB for most of the race, showing that in a downwind race, the foilers have the advantage.
He is the great favorite for the next Vendée Globe 2016 and is taking advantage of this to improve the reference time (he took 12 days 02 hours 28' minutes 39 seconds) of the English monohull transatlantic race, since Loïck Peyron, winner in 2008, took 12 days 8 hours 45' to reach Boston (less distant than New York) from Plymouth.
Favre believes that this race has demonstrated that foiling is unquestionably the way forward, that the class is preparing for the Vendée Globe. the fact that a foiler has won the Imoca race is significant â?" it is the future â?" there is no going back on foils now," said Hervé Favre, Director of Ocean Racing Events at OC Sport.
Route du Rhum and The Transat in the same basket
The opportunity for OC Sport Pen Duick to confirm the next edition which will take place in 2020, following the Route du Rhum destination Guadeloupe in 2018.
Hervé Favre said that the two âeuro races, both owned and organized by OC Sport Pen Duick âeuros, now offer complementary and alternative races for professional single-handed skippers. The two races will continue to feature the same classes as The Transat Bakerly: Ultime, Imoca 60, Multi50 and Class40.
"The idea of relaunching The Transat Bakerly this year was to have a classic single-handed race to offer every two years (in addition to the Route du Rhum) and we hope it will attract as many people as the Route du Rhum in the future." said Hervé Favre. "We hope that having the two races now firmly entrenched in the racing calendar will help sailors and sponsors plan their campaigns based around them."
Success and innovation for The Transat 2016
The Director of Ocean Racing Events at OC Sport said that this 2016 edition, which made its grand return after an 8-year absence, had been a great success with 25 yachts on the start line, and the arrival of the Ultime âeuros class led by François Gabart on Macif âeuros who made a spectacular debut on the race.
"I think it's fair to say that The Transat is back on track" favre explains. " We saw the biggest boats in the fleet eat up miles while behind them the race was tougher than ever and every skipper who tried to rise to the challenge deserves enormous credit."
In addition to the Ultimates, the other major innovation âeuros the addition of an untimed warm-up from Saint-Malo to Plymouth âeuros has been a great success with sailors, sponsors and the French public. Hervé Favre has confirmed that this warm-up will be an integral part of the 2020 edition.
"The warm-up in St Malo gave the French public a wonderful opportunity to participate in the race and to experience the atmosphere of the race village, said Favre.
Results
ULTIMATE
1. François Gabart/Macif - 8 days, 8 hours, 54 minutes and 39 seconds at sea
2. Thomas Coville/Sodebo - 8 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes and 2 seconds at sea
3. Yves Le Blevec/Actual - 10 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes and 59 seconds at sea
IMOCA 60
1. Armel Le Cléac'h/Banque Populaire - 12 days, 2 hours and 28 minutes and 39 seconds at sea
2. Vincent Riou/PRB - 12 days, 4 hours, 50 minutes and 11 seconds at sea
3. Jean-Pierre Dick/St Michel Virbac - 12 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 7 seconds at sea
4. Paul Meilhat (SMA) - 14 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes and 14 seconds at sea
Retirement - Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild)
Abandonment - Richard Tolkien (44)
MULTI50
1. Gilles Lamiré/French Tech Rennes St Malo - 12 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes and 17 seconds at sea
2. Lalou Roucayrol/Arkema - 14 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes, 20 seconds at sea
3. Pierre Antoine/Olmix - 16 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes, 23 seconds at sea
4. Erik Nigon (Towards a world without AIDS) - 16 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds at sea
Withdrawal - Erwan Le Roux (FenêtréA-Cardinal)
CLASS40
1. Thibaut Vauchel-Camus/Solidaires en Peloton-ARSEP - 17 days, 12 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds at sea
2. Louis Duc/Carac - 17 days, 23 hours, 54 minutes, 40 seconds at sea
3. Phil Sharp/Imerys - 19 days, 31 minutes, 5 seconds at sea
4. Edouard Golbery (Normandy Region) - 19 days, 18 hours, 3 minutes and 30 seconds at sea
5. Robin Marais (Esprit Scout) - 19 days, 19 hours and 33 minutes at sea
6. Anna Maria Renken (Nivea) - 21 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes and 25 seconds at sea
7. Hiroshi Kitada (Kiho) - 22 days, 18 hours, 3 minutes and 45 seconds at sea
Withdrawal - Maxime Sorel (VandB)
Retirement - Armel Tripon (Black Pepper)
Withdrawal - Isabelle Joschke (Generali-Horizon Mixité)
