Candidate for victory in the Imoca category, Jérémie Beyou and Franck Cammas had to settle for fourth place this Sunday. Charal crossed the finish line under bright sunshine at 5:56:34 p.m. French time (12:56:34 p.m. local time) after 12 days, 8 hours, 26 minutes and 34 seconds spent at sea.
The monohull, reduced after suffering a problem with the sails, which handicapped it in the final, retained a small lead over the tandem Samantha Davis and Jack Boutell who completed the transatlantic at 18 h 13 min and 39 sec .
But this final standoff is not enough to alleviate the disappointment of the very experienced duo who were aiming for at least a place on the podium: “We weren’t going to finish fourth but given what happened in the trade winds, we couldn’t do better than this. We started well and finished well but the middle was a bit soft. We learned to go faster with a slightly degraded sail configuration,” commented Franck Cammas.
“We have a breakage which deprives us of a key sail for two thirds of the race,” continued Beyou, not hiding his disappointment. “We were a bit of a passenger,” he added. “We did the entire course with a reaching sail which is 100 m2 less than the downwind sail,” explained Cammas, specifying that this incident occurred after the Canaries.
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In sixth position, Teamwork.net completed a magnificent transatlantic race with Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion at the controls in 1 day, 8 hours, 58 minutes and 59 seconds. The duo, who had made the bet to follow a route to the north, will have at least succeeded in shaking up the favorites, grouped in the south, by offering themselves a provisional first place before the big names finally regain the upper hand in the final.
Finally, Boris Hermann and Will Harris (Maliza – Sea Explorer), brought up the rear of this extremely spectacular grouped arrival in the radiant bay of Fort-de-France at the end of a journey of 12 days, 9 hours, 01 minute and 03 seconds.