2023-11-20 10:47:29
Under the fireworks that lit up the Martinique night, Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière reached Fort-de-France, aboard For People, at 7 a.m. this Sunday (2 a.m., in Martinique), winning the Transat Jacques Vabre in the Imoca category. A week ago, the duo Armel Le Cléac’h – Sébastien Josse (Banque Populaire), won in Ultim, the Maxi flying trimarans. Ruyant and Lagravière took 11 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes and 31 seconds, while the departure from Le Havre had been delayed by 9 days due to the Ciaran storm (unlike the faster Ultim, which had been able to set off) .
On his arrival at the pontoon, Thomas Ruyant, with tears in his eyes, brought his entire technical team on board. “I would like to say thank you to them, in July we damaged the boat a little, we weren’t really sure we would be able to leave from Le Havre,” says Ruyant. Despite everything, we had a boat that was super ready, thanks to this team who mobilized. » Moved, Ruyant, who will now continue his solo journey in order to prepare for the Vendée Globe, paid tribute to Morgan Lagravière, the one who, as in 2021, accompanied him during this crossing.
“It’s not easy to win the Transat once, or twice…”
“It’s not easy to win this Transat once, then twice… I couldn’t find better to accompany me. » Right at the end, the duo battled in particular against TeamWork of Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion, who had opted for a more challenging northern route, which almost paid off. “We were worried, we monitored them closely,” admits Thomas Ruyant.
In three years, Thomas Ruyant the Northerner (he started sailing near Dunkirk) has won the most popular deckchairs: the Route du rhum, last year, the Jacques Vabre deckchair, on Sunday and in 2021. He remains the the only sailor to have won a transatlantic race on 4 different supports, in a multi50, in a Figaro, in a Class40 and in an Imoca, a class with which he now dreams of winning the Vendée Globe, the solo round-the-world race which will start in November 2024.
For this, Thomas Ruyant, 6th in the last Vendée Globe in 2020 aboard LinkedOut, had a new boat built. A “Koch plan”, launched last April, more versatile and faster in all conditions than the old generation of Imoca. Rather than selling LinkedOut, a monohull now made reliable, Thomas Ruyant chose to keep it within the offshore racing team, TR Racing, and to entrust it to Sam Goodchild, a rising star in British sailing, and who is expected on the podium of the Transat Jacques Vabre, associated with Antoine Koch. On the other hand, the two IMOCAs are pooling technical resources (which allows for economies of scale) and are training together to prepare for the Vendée Globe.
Line passed! It’s victory! ???????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???? ???????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????́!!! ????????????@TransatJV pic.twitter.com/Ae1zxjKrXC
— Thomas Ruyant (@ThomasRuyant) November 19, 2023
On the other hand, the “we sail for people and for the planet” collective is developing a unique societal project, based on two boats, dedicated to people and the planet. Thomas Ruyant (For people) has joined forces with Entourage, which aims to support isolated people, in particular by helping them return to work. Sam Goodchild (For the planet), highlights the citizen movement’s investment fund, which supports innovative start-ups in sustainable development.
To do this, the sponsors, financiers of the project, – Advens, leader in cybersecurity, and Leyton, accepted that the IMOCAs would not bear their names, but that of the collective. A crazy project, rewarded with two places on the podium, in the Imoca category. On November 30, the two monohulls will take the start of “Lorient, Return to Base”, a solo race linking Martinique to Lorient, and which serves as selection for the Vendée Globe, even if Thomas Ruyant is already guaranteed to participate.
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