Brit Air wins the Trophée Paul Vatine

The public was expecting fireworks, and they got what they came for! The dense crowds thronging the Bassin de l’Eure quayside around 1600 hours were treated to a hard fought final. As the winners of their respective pools, Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou), Brit Air (Armel Le Cléac’h and Nicolas Troussel), and Guyader (Victorien Erussard and Loïc Fequet) battled it out to the finish, with Brit Air finally emerging triumphant.

Delayed start

The funny thing was, Armel Le Cléac’h and Nicolas Troussel were distinctly nervous as they started out. After discovering a problem with their monohull’s mainsail, the two sailors held up the race start for around ten minutes. The damage proved to be minor, and it didn’t prevent the crew from making a good start and finally taking the Trophy.

Then Round 2 of the Trophy was again held up for ten minutes, this time due to a problem with the rudder aboard Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou’s monohull. Further proof that these boats need to be treated with extreme care.

Steven Lambert