Following the finish of Volvo 70 I Love Poland (POL), four more monohulls completed the RORC Transatlantic Race in the space of just nine hours. Tired, but elated, the teams have joined in the celebrations at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada.
Runner-up for Monohull Line Honours was IMOCA Canada Ocean Racing (CAN) which finished the race in Grenada in the early hours of Wednesday morning in an elapsed time of 9 days 12 hrs 26 mins and 16 secs.
The third monohull to cross the finish line was Swan 115 Jasi (SWE), skippered by Toby Clarke in an elapsed time of 9 days 14 hrs 43 mins 37 secs.
The Botin 56 Black Pearl (GER), with Stefan Jentsch at the helm and Ireland's James Carroll on the crew was next, finishing the RORC Transatlantic Race in an elapsed time of 9 days 15 hrs 42 mins and 16 secs. The latest team to finish the race was Eric de Turckheim’s NMYD 54 Teasing Machine (FRA) in an elapsed time of 9 days 20 hrs 21 mins and 36 secs.
Dockside at Port Louis Marina, the teams enjoyed a warm welcome and shared their stories from the RORC Transatlantic Race.
Stefan Jentsch – Botin 56 Black Pearl: For all of the Black Pearl team this has been pretty emotional. Last year was a difficult experience for everyone. It could have gone very badly when we broke our mast (700 miles offshore). To put the boat back together again and finish this race makes me very proud. Black Pearl is a machine and we have had absolutely perfect conditions. The first seven days we were flying triple-headed all the time, so we're blasting along at around 20 knots. Black Pearl’s average speed was 15.5 knots for seven days. For a 56-foot boat, I think says it all. The boat is what we expected; super safe and dry inside, which was very important for us because a dry crew is a happy crew, and a happy crew is a fast crew. We are all very happy; Black Pearl has been very good to us this time.”
