Finot Conq 100 Nomad IV Overall Winner of RORC Transatlantic Race

(December 14, 2015; Day 16) – Maurice Benzaquen’s French Pogo 1250, Aloha crossed the finish line of the RORC Transatlantic Race 2015 at 22 hours 23 mins and 07 secs UTC on Sunday 13th December 2015, to take second place overall in IRC. After well over 15 days at sea, the crew of four Bretons were just over two hours outside the overall lead after IRC time correction.

Jean-Paul Riviere’s Finot Conq 100, Nomad IV will be awarded the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy.

Jean-Paul Riviere’s Finot Conq 100 Nomad IV

Maurice Benzaquen has sailed with the legendary French sailor, Eric Tabarly and his three crew; Philippe Foucher, Gwen Kerisit and David Alexandre have all been skippers for Tabarly. The four men have hundreds of thousands of sea miles of experience, but they have never sailed together for an Atlantic crossing.

“I have known these guys for a long time and my dream was to sail with them for a transat and it has been more than a dream to do this,” remarked Benzaquen . “They are so skilled and experienced, so it has been a real pleasure for me. At the start of the race we could see that we could compete with the bigger boats on IRC, but after four days we ran out of wind and we thought that was the end. However, afterwards we realised that it was possible and we were pushing very, very hard. We were all good friends before the race and even more so now.”

Aloha’s arrival means that just one boat remains at sea, Chris Frost & Elin Haf Davies J/120, Nunatak. At 1200 UTC on Monday December 14th, the Two-Handed team had until just under 24 hours to complete the race to take the overall lead after IRC time correction, but with 540 miles to go, that is an impossible scenario.

Report by Event Media

Race website – Tracker – Facebook

THE RORC TRANSATLANTIC RACE:
• The second RORC Transatlantic Race starts in Lanzarote on Saturday 28th November 2015 and the 2,995 nautical mile race runs through the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic to arrive in Grenada.
• The race is run in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA).
• The winner of the inaugural RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy for best elapsed time under IRC in 2014 was Jeremy Pilkington’s Lupa of London. The Baltic 78 was also presented with the International Maxi Association’s Line Honours Trophy at a prizegiving ceremony held at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina at the finish in Grenada.