52 Super Series: Yoann Richomme uses a compass on the TP52 short-distance race

Things are really heating up at the 52 Super Series in Spain. In the waters off Lanzarote, the teams continue to face a tough challenge from consistently strong winds. On the third day of racing, however, race director Mari Torrijo managed to find a window for one of the two scheduled races amidst gusts of 30 knots and above. This brings the total to five races out of ten.

52 Super Series: Yoann Richomme joins the line-up as navigator

New signing Yoann Richomme has proved his worth so far. The French runner-up in the Vendée Globe The two-time Route du Rhum winner brings his experience to the team led by “Paprec” owner Jean-Luc Petithuguenin as their new navigator. Already successfully led by offshore legend Loïck Peyron, Les Bleus are now being spurred on by yet another offshore expert in the leading international series for monohulls. For Richomme, this marks his first outing in what is a new short-distance discipline for him.

Although Yoann Richomme also competes in races on boats named “Paprec”, there is a stark contrast between the long-distance races and round-the-world voyages in the IMOCA class and the 52 Super Series with its short races. The 43-year-old, who studied naval engineering, thoroughly enjoys competing in the 52 Super Series, because despite his successful offshore and solo campaigns, he also loves being a team player.

Right on the first day of the Marina Rubicon 52 Super Series Lanzarote Sailing Week, at the start of the week, Yoann Richomme’s MacGyver-like skills were put to the test. Even before his first race with Team Paprec, the on-board electronics failed – not exactly the ideal start for a new navigator. Richomme wasn’t fazed by this and later explained: “I sat down and did it with the compass, just like in the old days.”

“Sled” snatches the lead from “Paprec” at half-time

He grinned and said: “It was a fantastic day. We had two brilliant starts, and Loïck Peyron was brilliant as tactician. He guided us through the wind holes and manoeuvred us through the fleet in an incredible way.” Richomme also noticed what was happening around his team: “We saw so many spinnakers tear. And we opted for the safer decisions. That was exactly the right approach today.”

The reward for their hard work with the compass: second and first place, plus the early lead, which Team Paprec defended until mid-morning. Then came Takashi Okura’s ‘Sled’ team, featuring tactician Francesco ‘Checco’ Bruni, navigator Andrea Visintini and strategist Murray Jones, who has won the America’s Cup no fewer than six times. Third place in Thursday’s sole race was enough to secure the world champions the half-time lead, with a total of just 13 points on the Lanzarote leaderboard.

This was also down to the fact that Team Paprec, finishing ninth, suffered their first involuntary setback at the same time. For the French crew, the grinder column’s overdrive failed in race five, and then the gennaker sheet became entangled under the boat. As there are no discards in the ruthless 52 Super Series, the French team initially dropped to second place with 17 points following their ninth-place finish.

​What’s in store for “Platoon Aviation” in the second half?

After five races, the Italian yacht “Alkedo Vitamina” was in third place with 18 points. Rounding out the top five were Shawn Kang’s and Tina Yu’s “Alpha+” (23 points) from Hong Kong and Harm Müller-Spreer’s “Platoon Aviation” (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, 31 points), with the owner at the helm, tactician Vasco Vascotto, navigator Juan Vila and strategist Jordi Calafat. Click here for the interim results.

In the competition involving 13 boats from eleven countries, the World Championship bronze medallists on “Platoon Aviation” At the halfway stage on Thursday, they secured a solid result by finishing fifth in the top group, moving up one place in the standings to fifth. The path to the top has become a long one, with the team now 18 points behind “Sled”. However, given their well-known ability to finish strongly, Harm Müller-Spreer’s ambitious crew on the only German TP52 usually remain a force to be reckoned with right up to the final day in the highly competitive 52 Super Series.

REPLAY! Click here for the live broadcast of day three of the 52 Super Series, on which only one of the two races could be held: