French sailor Yoann Richomme has won the 15th edition of The Transat CIC, a historic solo transatlantic race across the North Atlantic from Lorient in Brittany to New York. Richomme, sailing his Finot Conq-Antoine Koch designed PAPREC ARKÉA, crossed the finish line at 18:23:32 UTC to conclude a very close battle with German skipper Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) who was less than 30 miles behind. The elapsed time for the 2,950 nautical miles course since leaving Lorient on Sunday 28th April was 8d 6h 53mn 32sec.
This is the second back-to-back solo Transatlantic win for Richomme, who won his first ever solo IMOCA Transat, the Retour à La Base, a race from the Caribbean to Lorient in December. Richomme, 40, highlights his outstanding potential for the solo non-stop round-the-world race, the Vendée Globe, which starts early November.
Richomme was sailing his Finot Conq-Antoine Koch-designed PAPREC ARKÉA Photo: Julien Champolion - PolaRYSE
Richomme was second for a big part of the race, chasing his long-time rival Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé et Prévoyance) who looked to be odds on to win on his return to solo racing after missing last Autumn’s two Transats with a medical issue. However, Richomme out-manoeuvred him as they negotiated the north side of a nasty Atlantic depression whilst Dalin was reported to have suffered a technical problem which required him to stop for a few hours the following day.
The Frenchman, born in Fréjus but who spent three and a half years at a tough public school near Philadelphia while his father was working there, is a renowned data-driven perfectionist. He has won the solo Route du Rhum twice in Class 40 and won La Solitaire du Figaro twice. He said in the past that staying on top of his target numbers all the time and living in his own bubble, sailing his own race, has been the passport to his key successes to date.
This is the second back-to-back solo Transatlantic win for Richomme Photo: Julien Champolion - PolaRYSE
The historic Transatlantic race originated in England in 1960 as the Observer Transatlantic Race. This is the first time since 2016 that the race has been contested. Richomme follows up the success on that edition of Armel Le Cléac’h, who then went on to win the 2016-17 Vendée Globe the following winter. Richomme’s elapsed time bears some comparison with Le Cléach’s 12 days, at least in proving how much faster the latest generation of foiling IMOCAs are compared with Le Cléach’s Banque Populaire VIII which was one of the first ever IMOCAs with hydrofoils.
