Mabire takes Class 40 victory

Pogo Structures first home in the Transat Quebec-St Malo

At 04:50:43 GMT today Halvard Mabire on board his Pogo 40S Pogo Structure crossed the finish line of the seventh Transat Quebec-Saint Malo, first home in the Class 40. The time for Mabire, who lives just outside of Cherbourg and his crew of Antoine Carpentier and Didier Le Vourch was 13 days, 13 hours, 50 minutes and 43 seconds at an average speed of 8.76 knots.

Mabire, who grabbed the lead in the race two days ago, was able to fend off the attacks from the young guns on Mistral Loisirs - Pôle Elior Santé. He had feared the gap closing up between the leaders as they made their way up the English Channel towards St Malo but in the end his worries were unfounded. A few hours before crossing the line, he wrote: "A host of feelings are going through our minds, as is only normal at the end of a great adventure like the one we have just experienced. The pleasure of meeting up with family and friends is, of course, the highlight of our arrival and the most joyful moment you can imagine. However, at the same time as this joy, there are feelings of nostalgia that overwhelm you. Reaching land, means you fall back to Earth."

52 year old Halvard Mabire is a sailor with a huge list of achievements. As well as being an experienced project manager, he has been involved in ocean racing for three decades and has been through a range of jobs: skipper, project leader, designer... A great yachtsman, Halvard is also an excellent racing driver on dry land, as he has completed two Paris-Dakar rallies (in 1988 and 1989).

He has sailed in the Whitbread Round the World Race on board Cote d'Or with Eric Tabarly and has competed in seven Figaros, two Route du Rhum and three OSTARs (Artemis Transat).

Antoine Carpentier:, 32 lives in Southern Brittany and has done particularly well in some of the top classes, going from the J/80 to Mumm 30, via the Open 7.50 one design, as well as three seasons with Gitana Team on one of their ORMA 60ft trimarans.

Didier le Vourch, 35, lives in western Brittany. He made his name in the Mini circuit and has been shore crew for a number of leading boats in the Figaros, Mumm 30 and the IMOCA Open 60s of Jean-Pierre Dick and Thierry Dubois.

The top three Open 50 multihulls have now also arrived in St Malo.

Pierre Antoine’s trimaran Imagine finished in Saint-Malo at 01:43:10 this morning after 13 days, 10 hours, 13 minutes and 10 seconds of racing to take second place behind Franck-Yves Escoffier.v At 04:32:41 it was Prince de Bretagne’s turn to arrive in Saint-Malo. In his last missive from the high seas skipper Hervé Cléris had warned: "The Channel is going to be a game of poker. We could pull off some strokes." After finding himself 64 miles behind Imagine yesterday afternoon, he had managed to climb back to complete the transatlantic race in third place after 13 days, 13 hours, 02 minutes and 41 seconds, a little less than three hours after Imagine.

Miranda Merron reports from on board 40 Degrees :

Yesterday we saw the first small patch of blue sky since the other side of the Atlantic - it didn't last long, but made a welcome change from the never-ending grey sky and frequent rain. The wind was down for a while, which gave us the opportunity to dry out a bit. However, having got used to flying along at high speed, everyone struggled to adjust to going a little slower. We have now positioned ourselves for the wind off a small low - which we are making the most of at the moment (grey and thoroughly wet again), but once that system is through, we will be in light winds, and the boats behind will probably catch up. We have gained a place over the last few hours, but there are still nearly 500 miles of race track left, and a lot can happen in that distance. Motivation is high: the chat is turning ever more frequently to food and some of St Malo's finer drinking establishments!

Miranda/ 40 Degrees 46 44N 13 34W, TWS 23 kts, TWD 235

Sat 2nd Aug


40 Degrees has been at or near the top of the average speed per position report for the past day. Alex holds the current speed record of 25.4 knots. Here is her report of yesterday's events:

Well my third trip up the mast was to repair the thimble for the fractional halyard. We dropped the kite and then I went up and relashed the thimble while the boat was still cruising along at 10knots under the main. Trying to make repairs up there is not that easy as I do not have enough arms and legs to hold an and do the repair. Even though it should have been an easy lashing job it was more like trying to thread a needle!! All was done and to boot we still had the best speed run in the next position report.

We are still in the same low and under pretty much the same wind strength. We have all got a second wind as we have our eyes firmly set on trying to catch the 3 boats ahead: Appart City, Beluga, and Previour.

Well that all from the wahing machine of 40 Degrees now it is back to screaming down the motorway with no lights on as night begins, no moon and pitch black so already looking forward to day break!

45 31N 18 51W, TWS 25 kts, soggy on deck