Transat

That's A Wrap

Boston, Mass. - While the 12th running of the single-handed Transatlantic race from Plymouth, England to Boston, Massachusetts wraps up this weekend, the top winners in four fleets received a bundle of trophies from the podium at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Thursday night.

The legendary French sailor, Michel Desjoyeaux, who won the Vendee Globe in 2001, the Route du Rhum in 2002, and was first in the Transat in 1992 among many other accomplishments gave this city one of the most spectacular finishes in the history of the Transat when he came screaming up to the inner harbor sailing at 25 knots at sunset- thrilling sailors the world over, stunning the uninitiated Boston public and sealing the image of that finish in the minds of those lucky enough to see it.

He finished the 2,800-mile course in a record time of 8 days, 8 hours, 29 minutes and 55 seconds.

While the Transat's first visit to Red Sox nation - otherwise known as the baseball obsessed metro region of Boston - it certainly planted a seed for those many people, visitors, commuters, pedestrians and onlookers who gathered around the Boston Harbor hotel and glimpsed the magnitude of this race.

Desjoyeaux wore his laurels well all week in a city that did not recognize him or understand his achievement. Like most of the solo sailors and top professionals in this dangerous business of ocean sailing, he has a quirky sense of humor, a twinkle in his eye and an ability to say a great deal in a few short sentences. He took part, like many of the Transat sailors, in an afternoon of racing in a Rhodes-19 with a group of inner-city kids from Boston. "If it keeps them out of the bars, that is always a good thing," he said jokingly.

The Courageous Sailing Center of Charlestown, Mass. offers free sailing to the children of Boston, who often come from less-than stellar neighborhoods. Desjoyeaux, who won the short course race in the harbor with two awe-struck teenagers from Boston as crew may not have converted all Americans to single-handed sailing but he left some lanky teenage boys with a memory of a day of sailing that they will not soon forget.

"I can see from being here in Boston that it is a city where everyone is busy going here and there," Desjoyeaux said. "They do not have time to see a bunch of crazy Frenchmen and others sailing across the Atlantic. We are not expecting more but it would be nice if they could understand this or change their thinking a little bit."
In the Open 60 fleet, Michael Golding from England was given a huge round of applause at the awards ceremony for his achievements during the unbelievably tough Atlantic crossing. He finished the 2,800-mile course in 12 days, 15 hours, 18 minutes and 8 seconds at an average speed of 9.23 knots. In doing so, Golding has set a new solo transatlantic race record taking 2 days and 43 minutes off the existing record set by Frenchman Yves Parlier in the 1992 race on board Cacolac D'Aquitaine of 14 days, 16 hours and 1 minute.

"This is a fantastic town to host an event like the Transat and Offshore Challenges Events particularly has done a fantastic job. I didn't have a clue when I was sailing in here we broke the record and you guys nearly gave me a heart attack when you told me."

In the Open 50 fleet, a native of nearby Marblehead, Massachusetts and Maine resident Kip Stone, 42, took first place. He was locked in a spectacular contest racing against another Boston area resident, Joe Harris who comes from nearby Hamilton, Mass.

At a critical juncture in the race, Stone chose a more northerly route and Harris a more southerly route. The gamble paid off for Stone who extended his lead beyond Harris' reach and in the meantime broke a record for the Open 50 fleet. Both Harris and Stone sailed very well and finished their race well before many Open 60s in the back of their fleet reached the Grand Banks. Stone has also earned in place in the history books as the first American to score a victory since Phil Weld won the 1980 edition of the race on board his 51ft trimaran 'Moxie' in 17 days, 23 hours and 12 minutes.

Stone crossed the Boston Harbor finish line at 18:20:27 GMT yesterday (15.6.04) evening in an elapsed time of 15 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes and 27 seconds at an average speed of 7.66 knots. To compare, Stone has finished ahead of four Open 60s still racing and only one day slower than the Open 60s finishing in 6th, 7th and 8th place, sailed by skippers who normally grace the podiums of major solo events.

"When I was 19-years old, the sailor Phil Weld (who won the Transat, formerly called the OSTAR in 1980) gave a talk at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead and I knew then that I was going to do this race," Stone said. "I am hopeful that the stories of this race will help inspire more people to come along. We are all standing in the shoes of the people who came before us in this."

Boston native Rich Wilson who finished second in the Multi-50 fleet - put the three New Englanders on the map both within the professional sailing circuit and within their communities.

Rich Wilson and Joe Harris both did feel the same way about what it takes to finish the Transatlantic.

"While I was on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland I began to wonder how did the dory fishermen of Gloucester ever survive out here as it is a place not fit for man or beast," Wilson said.

"This race is not about prize money as you can see but it definitely pressed the boundaries of anything I have ever done in my life," Harris said. Harris and Stone both plan to continue their journey in the Open 50 professional sailing circuit and will likely be competitive with and against each other in the coming years.

The race was not without its extremely tense moments, including dismastings and a call from Bernard Stamm whose Open 60 lost its keel and was ultimately rescued.

Offshore Challenges events president Mark Turner who along with the rest of the team of organizers, did not sleep very much for the 14 days or so when they monitor the sailors at sea and welcome them each to Boston and the finish line. "This is a fantastic venue and OCE took on an enormous responsibility with very few people on our team. It has been great to be a part of this race and it has an incredible history, amazing boats, amazing people and it is incredibly varied."

The prize giving was hosted by Richard Simmonds and Yannick Perrigot, featuring samples of audio and video that many of the skippers had not seen or heard. Patrick Buteaux, representing Omega as principal partner to The Transat, presented the class winners with special edition Seamaster Transat watches. Omega also awarded the special edition watch to the 24-hour record holder and the first ORMA and IMOCA skippers to reach the Eddystone Lighthouse after the start. Michel Desjoyeaux, winner of the ORMA class struggled to hold his trophy, Moet et Chandon champagne and the three Omega watches!

Patrick Buteaux was joined on stage by the British Consul, John Rankin, the French Consul, Thierry Vankerk-Hoven, Joe Mellia from the Boston Harbor Hotel and Kent Halliwell, Commodore of the CYC Marblehead, who shared the honors in presenting the prizes to the skippers.

Each skipper was presented with a glass memento holding an original 1960s half-crown (the original wager between the race pioneers Blondie Hasler and Sir Francis Chichester). The top 3 skippers in each class were presented with some serious-looking trophies from the host club the Corinthian Yacht Club.

Prizegiving:

ORMA 60
1st Michel Desjoyeaux / Geant
2nd Thomas Coville / Sodebo
3rd Franck Cammas / Groupama

IMOCA60
1st Mike Golding / Ecover
2nd Dominique Wavre / Temenos
3rd Mike Sanderson / Pindar AlphaGraphics

50FT MULTI
1st Eric Bruneel / Trilogic
2nd Rich Wilson / Great American II
3rd Dominique Demachy / GiFi

50FT MONO
1st Kip Stone / Artforms
2nd Joe Harris / Wells Fargo-American Pioneer

- Tack Johnson compiled this report for SA from Boston.