Race win and record for Golding

Ecover beats Sill et Veolia to establish new St Malo St Nazaire time

Mike Golding and the crew of Ecover have won the St Nazaire St Malo race and also broken the race record, of this now classic 284-mile French race around the coast of Brittany by 2hrs 10mins and 9 seconds.

"The conditions were not ideal for record breaking as we were going upwind for most of the race and the last few miles we had very little wind. However, it is good to hold it but I reckon that, with the right conditions, it is doable within 24 hours," commented Golding, just after crossing the line.

"Overall I am pleased with our performance," Golding continued. "We have been near the front pretty much from the start taking the lead in the early stages. We were seldom more than half a mile apart from Sill & Véolia at any time and in the closing stages this reduced down to about a quarter of a mile. I reckon we probably did about 20 gybes this afternoon, trying to force them [ Sill & Véolia] to make an error and we eventually managed to gain separation from them when we went slightly offshore. Just before the finish we forced them to gybe and then sat on our advantage to the line".

With echoes of the finish of the Calais Round Britain Race, when Sill & Véolia overtook Ecover to win the race, this was divine retribution for Golding. "It could easily have gone the other way. Sill sailed a faultless race and the minute we made any mistakes they took advantage. In fact most of the Open 60s were together and Bernard [Stamm] nearly took second place at the end. It was great to be racing him again and it showed what his boat can do in light airs as he powered through - it was really, very close."

For Golding , IMOCA World Champion for two years in succession and the 2005 FICO World Champion, it was good to continue to be at the forefront of French offshore racing however, he paid tribute to his crew: "It has been very helpful having some local knowledge on board in Patrice [Carpentier] and Laurent [Mahy]. It enabled us to cut corners and go inside and close to the shore so making those decisions was definitely easier."

This is the second race for Ecover, since coming out of refit and Golding is pleased with the changes that they have made to the boat. "There is not a lot of difference between Sill & Véolia and Ecover, despite being very different boats. We stuck together both upwind and downwind so the work we have done during the winter has been a big step forward. We have still got some work to do. We are changing the keel and this race has helped to confirm that the further changes we are going to do are the right ones, so I am fairly confident going forward."

Ironically in a race named after the SNSM, the French equivalent of the RNLI, Goldling and Ecover were being towed into St Malo by an SNSM boat as they had engine failure!

Previous record: 1 day 10hrs 58 min 44 sec held by Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac-Paprec
New record: 1 day 8hrs 48min 35 sec held by Mike Golding & ECOVER