After Sebastien Simon and Tanguy Le Turquais in 10th and 11th, the finishes are close after a period of light winds has made the final 24 hours slow and frustrating for the IMOCA fleet. Ambrogio Beccaria holds on at the top of the Class40 fleet.
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Finishing this morning at 0732hrs UTC, (0342hrs local NYC) across the line Sébastien Simon, on Groupe Dubreuil, the former 11th Hour Racing, took 10th place not far ahead of the first daggerboard boat Tanguy Le Turquais on Lazare in 11th at 1005hrs UTC. Next across this morning was Franco German Isabelle Joshcke (MACSF) some 42 minutes later for 12th with Switzerland’s Alan Roura now just crossed at 1104hrs UTC, so only another 15 minutes behind Isa.
“I am so happy and proud to cross the line in 13th place, not a place I was expecting two days ago, but it is part of the job in a mechanical sport to be fixing things, but it doesn’t matter Here I have proven I am in the match, in the game with the others, and I am really happy considering the little time we have got between the putting the boat back in the water and the start of the race. I am happy, I am so tired, it is a short race, intense, every day still there was something different challenge but the boat is in good condition other than the broken port foil. I am looking forwards to attaching the lines to the dock and getting a bit of rest.” the Swiss skipper of Hublot said this morning,
After the excitement and the emotions of the top four skippers arriving into New York yesterday, last night and today are seeing a steady stream of finishers completing their own races. For Simon on Groupe Dubreuil making the top ten is a solid, much needed boost after losing his mast just short of the finish line of the Rétour à La Base and having to pitstop into the Azores last December. Le Turquais too has triumphed after his huge Transat Jacques Vabre adversity and has ended up over 100 miles ahead of the next daggerboard boat, Guirec Soudée on freelance.com who is 17th.
“The boats out there have been faced with very light winds because of the anticyclone which is positioned on their route,” explains Francis Le Goff race director.
“We are witnessing a particularly interesting battle in Class40,” explains Francis Le Goff. “Yesterday, we saw very random courses in the light winds and changes in position at the front of the race, it is a bit crazy.”
The duel between Ambrogio Beccaria (Alla Grande Pirelli) and Ian Lipinski (Crédit Mutuel) is still close a gap of 2.5 miles this Wednesday morning.
