François Gabart and the Crew on MACIF win in THE BRIDGE 2017 Ultime Trimarans Transatlantic Race – Centennial Transat

François Gabart and the crew on MACIF win THE BRIDGE 2017 Ultime Trimarans – Centennial Transat race as they crossed under the The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on July 3rd at 13:31 EST. The crew consisting of François Gabart – skipper, Pascal Bidégorry, Guillaume Combescure, Antoine Gautier, Benoît Marie and Yann Riou. They crossed in 8 days, 31 minutes and 20 seconds. The boat crossed the atlantic averaging 18.6 kts.

The race pitted the Queen Mary 2 against four Ultime trimarans skippered by some of the greatest names in Ocean Racing. François Gabart – MACIF, Francis Joyon – IDEC SPORT, Thomas Coville – Sodebo Ultime and Yves Le Blévec – ACTUAL.

They left Saint-Nazaire on June 25th UTC for the 3068.4 nm transat. The trimaran skippers faced headwinds during much of their race as a result they raced a longer race in terms of actual miles than the Queen Mary 2. They also had some areas of very calm winds reducing their boat speed.

The QM2 could follow a more or less straight line to the finish minus the exclusion zones for ice formations and Cetaceans. The Queen Mary 2 did stray into the ice exclusion zone for a short time before correcting causing them a penalty.

IDEC SPORT, skippered by Francis Joyon placed 2nd when they crossed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at 8 days 11 hours 9 minutes 3seconds. The crew covered this transat with an average of 17.2 kts of speed. We spoke to Francis Joyon following his arrival in New York and he said he plans to head back across the atlantic solo on Friday July 7th on IDEC SPORT. He stated this will be the first time he has a chance to sail IDEC SPORT solo and he wants to take this opportunity to get to know his boat without crew. 17.2 kts average speed.

Sodebo Ultime crossed 3rd despite having an injured crewman on Tuesday, July 4 at 05:18:55 EST. Just 50 miles behind IDEC SPORT. They completed the race in 8 days,16 hours,18 minutes, 55 seconds with a 17.04 kts average speed.

Thomas Coville, the current round the world solo record holder, was in good spirits after arrival and was happy with the time they made coming in as they passed the Statue of Liberty right after dawn. They were able to complete the race without evacuating the injured Thierry Briend until they passed the finish. He was then transferred to a RIB and taken for medical attention as a precaution.

Coville commented on dealing with his injured friend and crewmate after arriving at the Atlantic Boat Basin ““We were all very worried when Thierry had his problem,” Colville said. “I’m not going to discuss the whole race through this, but it really did affect us. He was knocked flat on his back and then the other way, face first onto a winch. He was incoherent for a few hours and couldn’t remember what had happened. The doctor said evacuating him from the boat wasn’t the right thing to do because it was best to keep him out of the elements. You need to have a very professional crew running the boat, so that when you have an injury, like Thierry had, you can manage it properly. We managed to race the boat to the finish and the situation with Thierry at the same time.”

ACTUAL finish off the race and concluded the race when they arrived in New York on July 5th, at 10.28 pm and 58 seconds. They arrived in the night with spotlights highlighting the crew and boat against the Statue of Liberty as they passed.

The event concluded for the Ultime Trimarans with the award ceremony at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan on July 6, 2017.

Although the rest of the MACIF was on hand for the ceremony and to accept the award. François Gabart had to appear via live video because he had to return to France where his wife is expecting a baby at any time.

The event concluded for the Ultime Trimarans with the award ceremony at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan on July 6, 2017.

Crew of IDEC SPORT
Francis Joyon
Alex Pella (ESP)
Sébastien Audigane
Gwénola Gahinet
Clément Surtel
Quentin Ponroy

Crew of ACUTAL
Yves Le Blévec
Samantha Davies
Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant
Davy Beaudart
Stanislas Thuret

Crew of Sodebo Ultime
Thomas Coville
Jean-Luc Nélias
Vincent Riou
Billy Besson
Loïc Le Mignon
Thierry Briend

Crew of MACIF
François Gabart
Pascal Bidégorry
Guillaume Combescure
Antoine Gautier
Benoît Marie
Yann Riou

Visit George Bekris Photography for more photos of THE BRIDGE 2017 Maxi Trimarans and Crews 

Visit THE BRIDGE 2017 for more Information and Statistics about the Maxi Trimarans Race