Enthusiasts will fully appreciate the performance. Charles Caudrelier, at the helm of his trimaran Edmond de Rothschild crossed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope this Friday, at 2:32 p.m., just 12 days 1 hour and 2 minutes after the big departure from Brest, on January 7. The leader of the Arkéa Ultim Challenge thus swallowed the 8,399 miles of the Atlantic to the tip of South Africa at an average speed of 28.85 knots, or 53 km/h…
“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start to my world tour. It is a great satisfaction to be first in the South Seas, a great objective achieved and an undeniable advantage. To arrive there with a boat in good condition while being in front I am very proud of it. Passing the Cape of Good Hope is always a special moment, it is the gateway to the South Seas and it marks the end of the Atlantic, it is a great milestone,” commented the winner of the 2022 Route du rhum and undisputed leader of this new world tour contested in Ultim.
Charles Caudrelier took the opportunity to pay tribute to his unfortunate rival, Tom Laperche, victim early Thursday morning of a violent collision with a UFO which caused a leak and made him urgently turn the flasher towards Cape Town. “From the start, I was living the adventure with Tom Laperche, we were fighting, he hit last night and that’s something we can’t control. Of course, my first feeling is sadness for Tom, for his teams. We exchanged a lot, we talked a lot, we also talked a lot about each other’s performances… nicely. We have a 25 year difference, we have known each other for quite a few years and I really like the guy. This fact of the race necessarily changed my navigation a little because we were really in regatta mode, we weren’t giving up… But I think that the change in course area was going to mean that we were also going to each go into our shell and manage our boat.” , detailed Caudrelier, now free of a nearby opponent.
At the 5 p.m. check-in, this Friday, it is now Thomas Coville (Sodebo 3) who occupies second place with 936 miles (1733 km) behind, Anthony Marchand (Actual 3) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire XI ) fighting 2400 miles (4444 km) from the leader. Suffice to say that Charles Caudrelier has a solid cushion ahead when entering the seas of the great south. But he knows it well, the Indian Ocean, with its choppy waves, likes to play “boat breaker”. So he is wary…