Winners in Class40 on a new boat
This Monday, November 29, 2021, Redman crossed the line of the Transat Jacques Vabre as winner of the Class40 category. Arrived at 12:30 pm (mainland time), Antoine Carpentier and Pablo Santurde Del Arco will have taken 21 days 22 hours 33 minutes and 30 seconds to cover the 4,600 theoretical miles of their course (in reality 5502.96 miles) at an average speed of 10.45 knots.
A difficult start to the race
The pair was one of the big favorites in their category, having many miles on their counter in Class40. They had their sights set on victory when they left Le Havre, and that's what they were looking for throughout this long sail. They were in the middle of the pack at the beginning of the race, tacking in light winds, and took the lead when they passed the Canary Islands. With a slight lead following an advantageous passage option near Tenerife, they then maintained their first place throughout the transatlantic race.
The first words of the skipper
Antoine Carpentier : "It was incredible. We had a good start, then we didn't want to take too many risks the first night along Cherbourg, and that cost us dearly. We worked hard to get back into the game. We succeeded along Portugal. After that, we just controlled the subject in terms of marking on the competitors.
For a victory, you need a little bit of success. We were stressed until the Diamond, because we saw the Swiss getting closer and the wind coming back from behind. There is always an element that we do not control, the weather, and it is true that to get a victory, you need a little help from destiny, that is to say the weather that goes well, which we had on this transatlantic. We had the right weather for our boats, for our sails, everything went well. I would like to repeat the words of Gilles (Lamiré) from two years ago, "it was like a book". I had equipped myself with the best too, I am very happy to have done this with Pablo.
I like double-handed sailing, but I think I have a lucky star in this race. There were some really good sailors in this race, a fairly homogeneous fleet in the first ten boats. We have a great project, friendly, family, human. I am very lucky.
We had to steer 80% of the time. On the one hand for performance when the sea was choppy, but also, because we didn't have much energy on board and the autopilot is very energy intensive."
