The 24 Hours of Azimuth, the start of the Azimuth Challenge
With the course reduced to 196 miles because of the evanescent winds, the crews left the pontoons at 1733." The fleet will therefore not descend as planned towards the Loire estuary. After sailing a little further west towards the virtual mark Azimut 1, the ten duets will go around Belle-Île and its dangers, including the cardinal East of the Galleys to be left to port before continuing on to Basse Jaune at the Glénan and returning towards Groix and the finish line in Lorient" had indicated Jacques Caraës during the traditional opening briefing.
The duo Paul Meilhat /Gwénolé Gavinet on SMA won the 24 Hours of the Azimut Challenge. They crossed the line at 2:02 p.m. on Saturday, September 23, after 20 hours and 29 minutes of exemplary sailing at an average speed of 10.8 knots. This is yet another victory that proves that the duo is working, as they have won all the races of this season under the sign of double-handedness: the ArMen Race last May and the Rolex Fastnet Race this summer. This new success over the AZIMUT-IMOCA 24 hours confirms that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the next Transat Jacques Vabre.
"Not so simple this race with light conditions last night combined with a big front swell, it wasn't easy to find the settings. At the end the wind picked up and we put in a good tack just before Belle-Île, which enabled us to get a bit of a lead and control our opponents under spinnaker. We really had dream conditions: stars at night, sun during the day, 15 knots, it was perfect. The whole beginning was a great fight, we were all very close. It's true that the conditions were rather favourable to us. With Generali, we had a small advantage over the hydrofoil boats. We may not have the most typical boat for the Transat Jacques Vabre, which remains a very different exercise from the races we won, but let's just say that this last race confirms that we have our chances anyway!" explained Paul Meilhat upon his arrival.
Despite the abandonment of the crew of La Fabrique (Roura/Denis), who suffered an electrical problem during the night of Saturday to Sunday, the duos were able to confront each other effectively.
The Chrono Azimut, the closing regatta of the Azimut Challenge
The Azimuth Challenge came to an end this Sunday, September 24, under persistent rain, at the tempo of a 12-13 knot south-south flow gusting through the traditional Chrono Azimut. At 12:38 pm, Gilles Bricout, President of the Race Committee, kicked off the race. With a superb start, the crews of Des Voiles et Vous! and SMA warn that they will have to rely on them for the 20 miles of the course between the Pen Men lighthouse and Pointe des Chats.
At the finish, after 1 h 34 min and 48sec of a very rhythmical race rich in manoeuvres, the crew of Paul Meilhat and Gwénolé Gahinet, the winners of the 24 Hours of Azimut, won by a short bow and 40 small seconds ahead of the StMichel-Virbac crew of Jean-Pierre Dick and Yann Eliès, who had made a good comeback.
Morgan Lagravière and Éric Peron aboard Des Voiles et Vous! complete the podium of this Chrono Azimut, whose record held since 2015 by Vincent Riou aboard PRB (1 h 08mn 10sec) has inevitably held up in conditions where it was necessary to deal with a light wind and a swell. In the end 12 minutes and 30 seconds separated the first from the last boat, Vers un monde sans sida (Towards a world without AIDS) by Erik Nigon.
