Charles Caudrelier and Erwan Israel complete the podium in the giant trimarans

2023-11-14 23:29:19

Par Gilles Festor

Published 9 minutes ago, Updated now

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild took third place in the Transat Jacques Vabre Yann Riou PolaRYSE/Gitana

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild crossed the finish line of the transatlantic race this Tuesday, almost forty-eight hours after the winners.

In Fort de France

The sun was slowly lowering in the sky when the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild entered the bay of Fort-de-France on Tuesday at 5:10 and 43 p.m. (10:10 p.m. and 43 min. Metropolitan time), to cross the line in third position in the Ultim class. A majestic arrival in a dream setting, on a brilliant ocean. And too bad if it was necessary to give up the fireworks which had accompanied the first two the night after crossing the Atlantic. Leaving Le Havre on October 29, Charles Caudrelier and Erwan Israel took 16 days 9 hours 5 minutes and 43 seconds to reach the Antilles, almost two days more than Banque Populaire (1 day and 22 hours precisely) which had itself even ahead of SVR Lazartigue by five hours.

A result far from the hopes of Charles Caudrelier and his trimaran, which had the reputation of being the most accomplished and versatile of flying boats. Winner of the last edition of the Transat Jaques Vabre (in 2021 with Franck Cammas), then of the Route du rhum last year, Caudrelier, at the helm of his formidable machine, had even become the man to beat in this category.

Favorite of the race, the Caudrelier-Israel duo was unable to join the fight for victory until the end, the fault of a damage to the bar system which occurred last Friday in the last sprint towards Martinique. Diminished, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild then saw the two leading boats moving inexorably away. Victory was gone. The Parisian and his friend, who remained disabled, covered the 2000 miles, even if, by taking out the toolbox, they were able to repair part of the problem. Only part, because the boat suffered from other problems, the nature of which has not yet been revealed.

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The team rediscovers the taste of defeat

After having reigned over the ocean race, the Gitana team must therefore learn to lose again. She will have the opportunity to take her revenge very quickly since the trimaran will be at the start of the solo round the world race which will kick off on January 7. One month to the day before that, the leaders will have revealed their future plans for offshore racing: the construction of a new boat to replace the current one dating from 2017 or a shift towards monohull competition. Or both if the Rothschild family, the sponsor, saw things very big to have both sides.