Med Spirit coupe la ligne d’arrivée de la Transatlantique super Yacht Regatta
Bonjour à tous,
Med Spirit vient de couper la ligne d’arrivée de la « Transatlantique super Yacht Regatta », à midi ce jeudi 6 décembre 2012. Malgré le bris de l’axe du vit de mulet au milieu du parcours.
Félicitations au courageux équipage qui n’a pas baissé les bras et a navigué avec la GV en bordure libre sous deux ris. Med Spirit est arrivé seulement 6 h derrière Sojana et 17 h derrière Nilaya. Léopard étant arrivé deux jours avant mais il est beaucoup plus grand que Med Spirit.
On peut rêver ..... sans cette avarie, Med Spirit aurait pu être mieux placé ?
Cap Arrow est à 550 milles et Shenendowa à 850 milles, ils ont tous les deux abandonné suite à des casses dues aux vents forts.
Cette traversée de l’Atlantique a été dure car la route favorable passait par le Nord. Et il a eu des vents forts, de la mer et de la pluie. La moyenne de Med Spirit a été de plus de 300 milles par jour.
Med Spirit repart aujourd’hui même pour le Marin en Martinique d’où il participera aux régates des Caraïbes cet hiver.
Encore bravo à l’équipage soudé et efficace.
A bien tôt, pour d’autres belles aventures.
Didier
Nilaya second, Sojana third in Transatlantic Superyacht & Maxi Regatta
Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. 6th December 2012. The The 32-metre Baltic Yachts sloop Nilaya claimed second place in the Transatlantic Superyacht & Maxi Regatta as she arrived in Virgin Gorda 9 days, 5 hours, 25 minutes and 47 seconds after departing from Tenerife for the crossing of approximately 3,000 miles. The Farr 115 Sojana, owned by Peter Harrison, finished 10 hours and 30 minutes later to take third place in real time and sits less than 5 minutes behind Nilaya in corrected time. Both arrivals followed that of first-placed Rán Leopard, helmed by Niklas Zennström, which completed the regatta in 7 days, 8 hours, 59 minutes and 12 seconds to claim line honours and smash the course record.
“It was an exciting crossing,” commented Philip Balcaen, helmsman of Nilaya on his arrival at YCCS Marina. “For the first two days we had very strong winds, 35-37 knots, and big waves. During the regatta we decided to follow a northern course which was longer but with more wind. Unfortunately we damaged several spinnakers and therefore we had a lower average speed than we could have had with the sails we needed. During the crossing we reached a maximum boat speed of 27 knots. The crew did an excellent job and we are all very happy to have our first seated dinner at the new YCCS Clubhouse in Virgin Gorda”.
Oscar Konyukhov’s Med Spirit, the 27.7-metre sloop representing the Russian Yachting Federation, is expected to arrive within a matter of hours in fourth place. The remaining two participating boats, Cape Arrow, a 2011-launched Southern Wind 100, and the majestic Shenandoah of Sark, the 1902-launched 55-metre triple masted schooner owned by Francesco, Carlo and Andrea Micheli, were forced to retire due to breakages and will be arriving in Virgin Gorda to join the fleet over the coming days.
The prize giving ceremony for the race, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) in collaboration with the International Maxi Association (IMA), is now expected to take place at the YCCS on Sunday 9th December. The YCCS Virgin Gorda Clubhouse located in the island’s North Sounds was officially inaugurated in January of this year and overlooks the purpose-built YCCS Marina which has been operational since March 2011.