Thursday, December 13, 2018 (Image © Alexis Courcoux)
IMOCA Open 60 - a Class in progress !
During the Paris Salon Nautique underway these days, the IMOCA Class held its Annual Meeting last Tuesday. The technical developments and especially the update with foils did bring much attention. The fact, that the 2021 Round-the-World-Race on Boats with Crews (i.e. the former Volvo Ocean Race) will be sailed on Open 60s, will attract a number of teams from non-French nations to the class.The news.
This morning UTC, just at press deadline, Franco Niggeler SUI with his 'Kuka' and the Volvo-Ocean-Race veteran Roberto Bermudez ESP steering crossed the Transatlantic Race finish line as 2nd. The backlog after a repair stop was to much to stay on top of the IRC handicap rankings where the line-honours' 130-Foot-Maxi 'My Song' of Pier-Luigi Loro Piana ITA is the winner. 
We reported on the arrival of Jacques Valente SUI yesterday. Here the 
Today, after 11 days underway, Jean-Pierre Dick FRA and his team will cross the finish line of the classic ARC as winners. 110nm were left this morning UTC. The two-leg ARC+ with a stopover on the Cape Verdes has been concluded by 55 of the 72 teams involved. The winners in the third ARC+ Mikko Ketonen LAT will arrive in St-Vincent tomorrow. 
Earlier as expected, Jacques Valente SUI finished the Route du Rhum this morning at 6h UTC as 33rd of the Class 40. His backlog on the Class winner Yoann Richomme FRA is 14 days, due above all to the repair stop in Gijon ESP the Swiss was forced to in the early days of the race. 5 participants are still underway, 4 of them will arrive in Pointe à Pitre today. 
Yesterday, the 130-Foot-Maxi 'My Song' of Pier-Luigi Loro Piana ITA crossed the finish line of the Transatlantic Race after 10 days and 6 hours realizing a new record for monohulls. She will probably not only win the line honours but also finish first in calculated time, as the second-ranked 'Kuka' of Franco Niggeler SUI lost too much in a repair stop. 
Four more boats crossed the finish line of the Route du Rhum in Guadeloupe yesterday, a Class 40 and 3 Rhum Multis, among them the Vendée-Globe-Legend Bertrand De Broc FRA as 11th. The next solo-skipper expected probably next morning is Jacques Valente SUI who was 140nm from the arrival this morning UTC.th
After a busy Saturday, yesterday Pointe à Pitre was calm again with only Andrea Fantini ITA arriving as 31st Class 40 skipper and Nils Boyer FRA as 6th in the category Rhum Mono. 
The last Open 60 - Alexa Barrier FRA the only of the three women in the IMOCA class completing the race - crossed the finish line in Pointe à Pitre. In the Class 40, the fight for rank 25 after 27 race days was very close with Olivier Magre FRA finishing only 129 seconds ahead of the local Carl Chipotel FRA ! Meanwhile, 39 Class-40 terminated the race.
The close duel of the two MOD-70 multihulls since the start continued on the home stretch off Grenada as well and the winner Giovanni Soldini ITA with his 'Maserati' crossed the finish line only 41 minutes ahead of 'PowerPlay' with Ned Collier USA. 
Alexa Barrier FRA with her Open 60 will finish the Route du Rhum today as only woman arriving in Guadeloupe as 15th of the class, two weeks after the winner Paul Meilhat FRA. A number of Class 40 will finish the race today as well, i.e. the ranks 25 till 31. 
The two 70-Foot Trimarans approaching the finish line 30nm away are still in a direct fight with 'PowerPlay' only 10nm behind the leading 'Maserati'. Nothing has been decided yet.
Yesterday was almost a 'lay day' at Pointe à Pitre, as only three Class 40 - the ranks 20 to 22 - crossed the finish line. As from today and during the whole weekend, high traffic is expected again. 
The 40th Route du Rhum is slowly coming to an end with the arrivals of some more Class 40 and 'Class Rhum'-Monos in Pointe à Pitre yesterday. 
The leading yachts have now reached one third of the course across the Atlantic Ocean, and with the Vendée Globe skipper Jean-Pierre Dick FRA, a prominent helmsman sailing on a JP54 is in the lead. The part of the ARC fleet departed one week ahead and having done a stopover on the Cape Verdes is already approaching the Caribbeans with the X-60 of Ziga Polanc POL in the lead. 
The Route du Rhum is slowly coming to an end, but there are still 25 participants underway, mostly Class 40 and 'Rhum-Class' amateur skippers. 
The leading two 70-foot trimarans have now reached the trade winds and are chasing at speeds above 30kn direction Caribbeans. 'Maserati' (Giovanni Soldini ITA) is 3nm in front of 'PowerPlay' (Ned Collier USA). In the monohulls, the 130-foot 'My Song' remains well ahead. In calculated time, Franco Niggeler SUI with his 50-foot 'Kuka' stays on the first position.
