Nineteen day transatlantic crossing in red and white

It’s time to celebrate onboard Veolia Environnement now she’s dropped anchor in Puerto Limon. Her two red and white skippers, Roland Jourdain and Jean Luc Nélias, players in a race full of suspense, never gave in to any of the challenges that this transatlantic race threw at them.

A speedy start

Sunday, November 8, 2:30 pm: the scene was set. With the French Minister for Sport, Rama Yade, firing the start gun, the early stages of the Transat Jacques Vabre saw many a fine battle. Wedged in the middle of the fleet, Veolia Environnement first had a brief duel with Foncia, the recent winner of the Istanbul Europa Race. In ninth position as they left the English Channel, Bilou and Jean-Luc soon opted to take a northerly course that paid off. Twenty-four hours later, the red and white boat was second on the leaderboard behind BT. Third on November 11 and 12, the two skippers then dropped to sixth place just before facing the worst day of this transatlantic race. With a damaged mainsail track, Veolia Environnement was down but not out. The two comrades detoured to the Azores. Ultimately, more fright than harm and the boat held onto its sixth position.

An exciting second half

The brief stopover in the Azores was the start of new ‘chase-race’ for our two sailors. Fourth one day, sixth the next. Roland and Jean-Luc engage in valiant battle on the high seas with Foncia, Aviva, 1876 and W Hotels. The sailing conditions were calmer than at the exit from the Channel and the trade winds gradually carried the fleet to Puerto Limon. But the Jacques Vabre race is far from being a pleasure cruise. Little by little, Foncia moved ahead of Bilou’s group and 1876 changed course to head via the north of the west Indies. From then on, Veolia Environnement, W Hotels and Aviva remained glued to each other. At the head of this trio through to the Antilles Arc, Roland then lost his lead position to Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes as they crossed the Caribbean Sea. The pair did their utmost to catch up with the Spaniards… but in vain. Nonetheless, the red duo never gave up and there were barely five minutes between these two IMOCA class yachts as they crossed the finish line in Puerto Limon.

Steven Lambert