PlanetSail: Brest Atlantiques, Part 2

Four of the world’s fastest 32m offshore trimarans are competing in a 14,000nm figure eight race around the north and south Atlantic oceans. In this final episode, after rounding the first mark of Rio de Janeiro there was even more heavy weather, more gear failures and plenty more tactical conundrums to figure out. A remarkable race brought to life by the superb footage from the onboard reporters and running commentary from the crews.

For Part 1, click here.

Event details – Race brochure – Tracker – YouTube

Called Brest Atlantiques, the race sends these doublehanded speedsters on a course from Brest that will turn at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Cape Town (South Africa) before returning to Brest. The Ultim Class is for trimarans with a maximum length of 32 meters and a maximum width of 23 meters.

The turning marks will see the boats leave to port the chain of Cagarras Islands, in front of the famous Ipanema beach in the Bay of Rio and Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

It is an unprecedented course, lined with several weather traps, especially along The Cape, a route almost never taken in offshore racing.

Each entry will be skippered by four fantastic pairs and accompanied by a media man who is not allowed to take an active role in the performance of the boat. The teams are:

• Actual leader: Yves Le Blévec/Alex Pella
• Maxi Edmond de Rothschild: Franck Cammas/Charles Caudrelier
• Trimaran Macif: François Gabart/Gwénolé Gahinet
• Sodebo Ultim 3: Thomas Coville/Jean-Luc Nélias