Jérémie Beyou, one of the top hopes for the Transat CIC solo race from Lorient to New York, is returning to Lorient after his J2 forestay was damaged.

The skipper of Charal made the decision to turn around after discussions with his technical team, to be able to make a repair as quickly as possible and carry out a complete check of the boat.

Beyou will leave again quickly with a reduced crew to deliver the IMOCA to New York. Beyou wants to make sure of starting the New York-Vendée race on May 29.

After a sunny, spectacular start, the 48 solo sailors taking part in the Transat CIC had to deal with the first windy and bumpy night at sea, crossing a front with 30 plus knots of wind and a rough sea state. According to the 4 pm rankings, Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Nicolas d'Estais (Café Joyeux) and Patrick Isoard (Uship pour les Enfants du Mekong) are leading in the IMOCA, Class40 and Vintage classes respectively.

Just over 24 hours have gone since the spectacular start from Lorient, after a rather eventful night with winds in excess of 30 knots and a particularly unpleasant sea state, and after having cleared the TSS exclusion zone at Ushant around midnight, the bulk of the fleet has emerged almost unscathed from the first hurdle on their route to the finish line in New York.

Conditions are now much more manageable for the leaders, who are heading northwest towards the southern tip of Ireland, where they should be able to take their next routing option.

Taking the lead in the IMOCA class right from the start was Charlie Dalin aboard his Verdier design (MACIF Santé Prevoyance). He has kept up an impressive pace since, and according to the 4pm position reports has nearly 16 miles buffer on his compatriot Jérémie Beyou on Charal and over 21 on Paul Meilhat (Biotherm). The first group also includes Nicolas Lunven on Holcim - PRB and Yoann Richomme (IMOCA Paprec Arkéa), within 25 miles of the leader.

In sixth and seventh position, respectively, are the first two female skippers, Britain’s Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur) and Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (Teamwork - Team SNEF), some 27 and 28 miles from the leaders. Reached on board this morning, Justine said: “I had some communications issues, no satellite connection and I couldn’t send or receive anything, but it’s solved now. Yeah, it's a busy night, It's tiring for me trying to get the boat to go fast, trying not to do any damage during sail changes. I will try to have some food and get some sleep to get ready for the next 20 hours that should be softer. So all good!”

As for the other international skippers Boris Herrmann (Malizia - Seaexplorer) sits in 8th place hanging on to the main group, while Italian Giancarlo Pedote on Prismyan is in 14th position some 44 miles back, and Japanese Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG MORI Global One) is 19th. In their respective races to make Vendée Globe qualification, Britain’s James Harayda (Gentoo Sailing Team) and Swiss-German Ollie Heer (Oliver Heer Ocean Racing) are in in 23th and 29th place.

In the 13 boat strong Class40, it is interesting to note that the race favorites are all in the top group with Nicolas d'Estais (CAFÉ JOYEUX) keeping just the slightest margin, one and half mile, on Ian Lipinski (Crédit Mutuel) and Fabien Delahaye (LEGALLAIS) and some five miles ahead of the Italian duo Ambrogio Beccaria (Alla Grande - Pirelli) and Alberto Bona (IBSA), who have been exchanging positions in the last few hours.

The Transat CIC, the legendary solo race across the North Atlantic, commenced on Sunday with 48 sailors setting sail from Lorient, Brittany towards New York. Blessed with sunny skies, cumulus clouds, and a decent 10-15kts of Westerly wind, the sailors made a fairly smooth start with 12 to 15 knots of wind.

The fleet comprises 33 IMOCA solo skippers, 13 Class 40 singlehanded racers and two vintage craft.

Charlie Dalin on MACIF Santé Prévoyance made the sharpest, best-timed start and led the race before being overtaken by the powerful Charal sailed by Jéremie Beyou. Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork Team SNEF) was in hot pursuit of the top trio which included Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa), winner of last year’s Rétour à La Base solo race from Martinique to Lorient. 

The Class 40 also put on a stunning display of close racing, with pre-race favourites Ambrogio Beccaria and Ian Lipinski duelling off the line under tightly sheeted Code sails on the close reach. Beccaria, the winner of last year’s Transat Jacques Vabre, expressed his confidence and said, “For the first two days, I would like to be one hundred percent comfortable on my boat, without any major damage. The strongest wind is going to come in two and a half days and it’s the position where it won’t help us win the race but where we can lose it."

After a calm 24 hours, the sailors will have to get through an initial weather front before heading north towards Ireland. The first edition of the race since 2016 is a great testing ground for both new and innovative ideas and for existing designs. Solo racers bound for the Vendée Globe take their IMOCA60s through the big winds and seas on a route which usually takes them further to the north than they race south on the solo race round the world. 

The Transat CIC has deep roots as the original Transatlantic race, contested first in 1960 and won by Francis Chichester before French ocean racing legend Eric Tabarly took a landmark French victory in 1964. This year's race is expected to be a hotly contested one, with sailors braving the North Atlantic's unpredictable weather and challenging route to emerge as the victor.

The Transat CIC is set to bring solo ocean racing’s biggest, most modern IMOCA and Class40 fleet to the very heart of New York City.

The city of New York is inextricably linked to the long history of solo ocean racing. Some years before anyone had really worked up the idea of racing solo around the globe, in 1957 English yachtsman Colonel Herbert ‘Blondie’ Hasler proposed a solo race across the Atlantic from Plymouth to New York.

And so on 10 June 1960, the Observer Singlehanded TransAtlantic race set off with five intrepid solo skippers starting off Plymouth, not all on the day.

Racing the biggest boat in the fleet, the 40-footer Gypsy Moth III sailed English yachtsman Francis Chichester won, crossing the finish line in the approaches to New York after 40 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes.

Remarkably all five of the starters finished, with French pioneer Jean Lacombe on his 21.5-footer Cap Horn reaching New York fifth after 74 days having started three days late and taking the most southerly route close to the Azores.

When he won the second edition of the OSTAR, contested in 1964, 32-year-old French naval lieutenant Eric Tabarly ignited France’s enduring national love affair with ocean racing and solo adventures at sea.

On the 44ft ketch Pen Duick II, which he had built for the race, and following a carefully calculated route which was the result of his comprehensive pre-race weather studies, Tabarly finished into Newport three days before England’s second-placed Chichester. Tabarly had never used his radio during the race and for 19 days of his passage had no self-steering.

This historic transatlantic race has variously finished in New York, Newport in Rhode Island and Boston over the years. New York offers so much, not least passing the Statue of Liberty and arriving in the city that never sleeps, docking against the Manahattan skyline. The Hudson River is a very busy stretch of water to bring a race finish, but bringing ocean racing right to the very heart of one of the world’s richest and most dynamic cities has a huge appeal.

So it is both appropriate and exciting that the Transat CIC 2024 solo race — which sets off from Lorient in France this Sunday 28 April — will finish into New York, just as the very first pioneering race did in 1960.

After they finish the Transat CIC race, the race boats will be berthed at the ONE°15 Brooklyn Marina in the heart of Brooklyn Bridge Park, between Piers 4 and 5, very close to Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights.

Among the prominent American skippers who plan to be in town and believe the Transat will be great for ocean racing in their home country and beyond, is the winning skipper of The Ocean Race, Charlie Enright who says: “It will be amazing to see so many IMOCAs, and friends, in NYC this spring. This really showcases the strength of the class and the bright future that lies ahead. The American audience should do all they can to check out this impressive scene while it’s here in our home waters.”