Ocean Fifty Jacques Vabre podium is complete

Nov 23, 2021

Ocean Fifty multihull Primonial has won the title in the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre race, and the Ocean fifty podium is complete. 

Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben crossed the finish line in Martinique ahead of Koesio, who came in second. Leyton was third to cross the end of the transatlantic race. 

It took Primonial 15 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes and 14 seconds to finish the race. In theory, they have to cover the 5,800 miles from Le Havre to Martinique in the West Indies with an average speed of 15.4 knots. Actually, they covered 6,536.56 real miles at 17.50 knots. 

Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben crossed the finish line during the night, under a full moon and drenched by light rain. They were the first of the 150 boats still racing to cross the line near the legendary Diamond rock in Martinique and have earned the Ocean fifty multihull title. 

“We’re very emotional right now. We didn’t expect it to be easy, we said before the start that there were no favourites. It’s a really great race but it has been hard because it has been long, longer than expected.” -Matthieu Souben.

Koesio crossed second in the Transat Jacques Vabre

2 hours, 27 minutes and 58 seconds later, Koesio crossed the finish line. Co-skippers Erwan Le Roux and Xavier Macaire took 15 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 12 seconds to cover the distance of the transatlantic race. 

The only non-French sailor in the Ocean Fifty class was Sam Goodchild, who crossed in third place with co-skipper Aymeric Chappellier. Their boat Leyton took 15 days, 17 hours, 15 minutes and 43 seconds to cover the course. 

In the Ultimes category, the first boats are expected to arrive in Martinique and we will discover the winner in a couple of hours. Also close to the finish line, IMOCA is approaching Martinique with LinkedOut in first place of the pack. In second place, Apivia is following closely. 

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has separated itself from the other Ultimes, creating a 150 nm gap and they are expected to take line as the rest of the boats of the classes are slipping slowly from them. With Martinique in their sights, they should not relax as the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021 is one of the most unexpected races in the world. 

Other class rankings of Tuesday 23rd November at 11:00

Class40

1. Redman - distance to finish (1387.1 nm)
2. Crédit Mutuel - distance to finish (1429.3 nm)
3. Project Rescue Ocean - distance to finish (1431.9 nm)

IMOCA

1. LinkedOut - distance to finish (635.2 nm)
2. Apivia - distance to finish (798.8 nm)
3. Charal - distance to finish (879.1 nm)

Ultime

1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild - distance to finish (52.7 nm)
2. Banque Populaire XI - distance to finish (201.7 nm)
3. SVR - Lazartigue - distance to finish (217.7 nm)