Monohulls win leg one

As transat Open 50s arrive in St Pierre

Under a fine mist and a 15 knot southwesterly the team on Renaud le Youdec's Open 50 monohull were the first to finish leg one of the Saguenay-St Pierre-Vendee transatlantic race this morning.

Le Youdec's yellow Open 50 monohull with Jean Bacave, Philippe Paturel, Yannick Dutin and Eric Smith and the journalist from RFO Stéphane Bry on board crossed the line at 02:37:47s (05:37:47s BST) having covered the 664 mile run from Saguenay down the St Lawrence River and out into the Gulf of St Lawrence to the remote island of St Pierre (to the south of Newfoundland) in a time of 4 days 9 hours 37 minutes 47 seconds, at an average of 6.29 knots.

"We’ve had a bit of everything," commented Le Youdec as he tied up his boat. To some extent Le Youdec's arrival was a homecoming as his crewmembers Paturel and Dutin both come from St Pierre.

"At the island of Colombiers just before the finish, we blew our Solent," he continued. "All of a sudden, the wind rose to 45 knots only to drop again almost immediately. Since passing the top of Miquelon, we have been making frantic sail changes but this has been typical of the leg. Since this morning we have also had a big leak from the port rudder stock. So it looks like we’ve got our work cut out to be able to leave again on Sunday. What worries me the most is the repair or replacement of the foresail..."

Second to arrive was another monohull Défi Vendéen, stealing across the line at 03:07:20s (06:07:20s, BST), 30 minutes behind the winner.

Jean-François Durand gave his views: "I pay my respects to my opponents. They knew exactly when to pass us and keep ahead on the last home straight. There aren’t many of us, but what there is, is good. It was an excellent regatta. It reminds me of the Solitaire du Figaro, such is the intensity."

First multihull in was Gifi. Dominique Demachy's catamaran finished at 03:37:04s (06:37:04s, BST), one hour after le Youdec. The fine rain had begun to fall but didn’t dampen the islanders' warm welcome. "From the first night, we showed everyone what our boat is capable of in light conditions, with a great deal of manoeuvres," commented Demanchy. "We have new sails aboard so we had what we needed. This first leg, with very variable winds, really suited us. The second, longer leg, will hopefully be a chance to show that a cruising boat can pull off a flyer. It’s down to us now not to make any mistakes."

The start of the second leg, bound for Les Sables d'Olonne will be given on Sunday 22 June at 1300 hours (1600 hours BST).