Just as the winning margin in the IMOCAs between Boris Herrmann and victor Yoann Richomme was a mere 2hrs 19 minutes, so also in Class 40 at the end of Transat CIC in the very early morning there was just 2hrs 20 minutes separating Italian winner Ambrogio Beccaria and French runner up Ian Lipinksi.
Beccaria reminded us when he docked into Brooklyn Heights One 15 Marina today that it was only in the very final hour or two of his 11 day 16 hour race from Lorient that he finally believed the win was his. “Yesterday I had a problem with my rudder. I had lightning striking close to me 24 hours away, I was scared. Anything could have happened!” smiled Beccaria after the obligatory video and photo shoot at the Statue of Liberty.
© OC Sport Pen Duick
“I loved this race, it had everything, weather systems coming at you all the time, every day something different. It is cold, the light is different, there is fog, it is grey, it is like the south. And there is the Gulf Stream which I just did not get in with. On the Transat Jacques Vabre we didn’t change sails for 10 or 12 days. This race has it all!” summed up Beccaria.
Fabien Delahaye (LEGALLAIS) completed the Class 40 podium. And at 1800hrs UTC this Friday evening there are only two IMOCAs left on the race course, Clarisse Crémer restarted out of the Azores this morning after a technical stop of five days to make repairs to bulkhead damage. And still with 800 miles to the finish Ollie Heer is making very slow and sporadic progress..
