Another victory for Peyron

As Gitana Eighty is first home in the Trophee SNSM

After setting out from Saint Nazaire on Sunday at 1735GMT, the fleet of IMOCA Open 60s made it back into the Loire Estuary this morning. Crossing the finish line at 05:44:07 GMT, Loïck Peyron and his four crew of Cyril Dardashti, Antoine Mermod, Didier Le Vourc’h and Sébastien Thétiot, have added the Trophee SNSM to Gitana Eighty’s list of wins. The LCF Rothschild Group-based monohull covered the 360 mile long course around the coast of Brittany in 1 day 12 hours 9 minutes and 7 seconds.

This year, for the fourth running of the Trophee SNSM, the seven competing Open 60s had to sail two laps of the course between Saint Nazaire and Sainte Marine. It was a tactical course which made for a fiercely contested race, with frequent jockeying for position, as shown by the tight finish between the boats. In the end Gitana Eighty managed to reach the line first with a 32 minute lead over Jean le Cam's VM Matériaux, while Cheminées Poujoulat and Delta Dore were neck and neck right up to the finish for third, but ultimately it was the Bernar Stamm and his crew who completed the podium for the Trophee SNSM.

Loïck Peyron commented on the race: “After what was a fairly average start on Sunday we were slightly behind, but our first run back from Sainte Marine towards Saint Nazaire allowed us to make up some ground and overtake a number of our playmates. Yesterday, we did very well weaving our way along, particularly at the approach to Belle-Ile and passing Ile de Groix. The move proved decisive. We were second at the halfway stage at the entrance to the Loire Estuary yesterday and we kept gaining ground on Paprec-Virbac before getting ahead of them at the exit from the Baie de Quiberon. However, our lead really got a boost off Lorient when Jean-Pierre Dick and his crew opted to pass round the outside of ile de Groix and that cost them dearly. Aboard Gitana Eighty, we went for the other option, namely passing between the mainland and the island. That appeared to me to be a better option both in terms of the weather and the currents. The scenario as we exited ile de Groix proved we'd made the right choice as we saw them downwind of us and we had a good lead. The second leg back to Saint Nazaire was about controlling and optimising our speed and trajectory.

“There was a steady pace throughout the 36 hours of racing. We had five crew aboard Gitana Eighty (compared with six on the majority of the other boats), so there was always a fair amount of work on deck. You have to be on top of things in order to get the most out of the various weather phenomena and not cut down on the manœuvres… That’s what we did!

"The race was complicated in terms of strategy but with very pleasant sailing: a medium breeze alternating with upwind sailing and reaching, the whole thing in glorious sunshine… we couldn’t have hoped for better! This victory is reassuring on a number of levels."

The Trophee SNSM represents the fourth victory in a row for the LCF Rothschild Group Open 60 following on from Transat BtoB last December and more recently the Artemis Transat. Gitana Eighty skipper Loick Peyron has remains unbeaten in the IMOCA circuit to date - a nice confidence boost with less than five months to go to the start of the Vendée Globe.

From next Monday Gitana Eighty will be joined by her sistership Jean-Pierre Dick's Paprec Virbac 2 in La Trinité-sur-Mer for some two boat training. Despite working together since the start of their respective projects, this will be the first time the two boats and their skippers have trained togehter. After this Gitana Eighty will have another refit.

IMOCA Open 60 results for the Trophee SNSM
1. Gitana Eighty (Loïck Peyron), finished on Tuesday 24th June at 0544’07’’ UT
2. VM Matériaux (Jean Le Cam), finished at 0616’12’’ UT
3. Cheminées Poujoulat (Bernard Stamm), finshed  0627’20’’ UT
4. Delta Dore (Jérémie Beyou), finished 0630’22’’ UT
5. Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux), finished at 0649’27’’ UT
6. Paprec-Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick), finished at 0703’43’’ UT
7. Ecover (Mike Golding), finished at 0711’ UT