The IDEC SPORT crew finally crossed the finish line of the Centenary Transat. But the this reluctant final when approaching New York does not matter, the boat who won the Jules Verne trophy was awarded on the stroke of midnight (12.09 am and 03 seconds, local time), on Tuesday, July 4th, the second place of the Centennial Transat in the New York Bay. It was a nice way to finish, under the sparkling Verrazano-Narrows bridge off the Manhattan coast, an ordeal that has kept all its promises in terms of sport, during which Francis Joyon took to pleasure to make the most of his surprising 10-year-old maxi-multihull. In the Brooklyn pier, the skipper, the great record hunter, oversees this race between the ultimate trimarans.
Arrival
« We were sometimes at 3 knots against the flow in the river. The final was pretty endless, but we managed pretty well along the Long Island thanks to a helpful »
The race
« Overall, we're happy. The guys had a great time. I have a happy crew who is always pleased to sail and make good jokes. We did good maneuvers, we really did move the boat at best all the time. On the strategy level, we tried to sail the cleanest trajectory possible. All five, we are rather pleased with our work. I found it very amusing to have the boats in contact and being able to elaborate a strategy in comparison to them. I did that in the days of the ORMA trimarans, and I took pleasure in rediscovering it. »
The boat
« We were in front of MACIF for a long time as the second day we were still in the lead. We were quite optimistic about the boat capacities concerning a certain type of weather, but it is true that when his carrier allowed them to fly, we couldn't do much about it except from them go five knots faster than us. We tried to elaborate strategies and different routes that sometimes have quite paid off. »
The route from East to West
« Against headwind, the feeling of speed was obviously less present than on a around-the-world trip, therefore we missed a bit. But we also discovered close-hauled strategies and the target speeds we did not know, we saw the most favorable wing combinations. It remains a very complex boat, and whenever I navigate on it, I learn a lot. »