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French skipper Pierre Antoine crossed The Transat bakerly finish line at Sandy Hook off New York in the early hours of this morning, taking third place and completing the Multi50 podium aboard his trimaran Olmix.
Passing under the Verrazano Bridge on the Hudson River to arrive at Brooklyn Bridge Park just before sunrise, Antoine celebrated his third place with an impressive G.H MUMM splash with his waiting friends and family against the twinkling Manhattan skyline.
On his arrival in the city, Antoine said: “This is the first time I have sailed into New York and to arrive in front of Manhattan is an amazing view. You only have to look at the impressive skyline to realise that New York is a special end to the race.”
Antoine crossed the finish line at 04:59 BST after 16 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 23 seconds at sea, travelling at an average speed of 9.34 knots over 3,721nm of open Atlantic ocean. He arrived in New York four days, seven hours, nine minutes and six seconds behind winning Multi50 Gilles Lamiré aboard French Tech Rennes St Malo. Lalou Roucayrol took second place aboard Arkema.
With Olmix being a slightly older and heavier boat than the rest in the Multi50 fleet, Antoine explained that he opted for the classic north Atlantic route to play to his boat’s strengths, “I chose to take the more northerly route, because this boat is a bit older and a bit heavier that the other Multi50s, so not as fast in lighter winds as the others in our category,” he said.
“During the race we had to cross several different weather systems, but in between these systems there was generally no wind – I think we had three periods during the race where we had no wind for about five hours at a time.”
He continued, “These periods were very difficult for both the skippers and for the boats because you have no wind, but you have big waves and everything is moving and it’s very uncomfortable. It was also quite frustrating.”
“When you were in a good position moving through the systems you were fast, but when you were between the systems you lost a lot of distance. You could also see the guys in the far south sailing downwind still moving fast and covering a lot of miles while we were stopped.”
With just a few hundred miles to go to the finish line, the ongoing battle for the third podium position between Antoine and his fellow Multi50 competitor Erik Nigon aboard Vers un Sans Monde Sida was intense. Going into the penultimate night of racing, Nigon just had the edge, with Antoine himself reporting that his friend and rival may have the upper hand come morning.
However, it was not to be for Nigon, and even damage to his boats daggerboard couldn’t stop Antoine as he sped away from his competitor, riding the winds of a building depression to take third place.
“The race with Erik was very tight,” the skipper explained. “I could have easily finished behind him. It was only because of the last weather system that I was able to pull ahead.”
Nigon arrived just four hours behind Antoine, crossing the finish line at 09:02 BST to finish in fourth place and conclude the Multi50 arrivals.
The next class expected on the Manhattan horizon is the Class40s, with Thibaut Vauchel Camus aboard Solidaires en Peloton-ARSEP still leading the charge with just 100nm left to race.
The first Class 40 is expected to arrive in New York City on Friday.
Track the race here.
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