Typical Transat: After an exciting start to the Retour à La Base, the field of speedy foilers has sorted itself out. The soloists have swarmed northwards. Ahead, a leading group of nine boats, including Boris Herrmann, has easily pulled away. Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer" is one of them. However, because the Hamburg native is sailing on the more westerly "outer course" in this group and therefore has a further route to the finish, he was initially listed in eleventh place in the tracking on Friday morning after the start.
Five-hour penalty for a one-minute mistake
Attentive Imoca fans may have wondered about Fabrice Amedeo's course the morning after the start. On the tracker, it looked as if the French skipper, with whom Andreas Baden from Kiel had just competed in the Transat Jacques Vabre, was returning to Martinique. However, Amedeo was actually serving his five-hour early start penalty at sea.
Fabrice Amedeo explained his manoeuvre himself: "It was a wonderful start with which we left Martinique and this beautiful bay of Fort-de-France. The start phase was a bit heated. I crossed the start line within a minute of the starting gun. The race jury handed me a five-hour penalty for this, which I have to complete at sea. So don't worry: it's not a technical problem. There's still a whole ocean to catch up with the fleet again."
I see this race as a great opportunity to learn how to use 'Holcim-PRB' properly." Nico Lunven
Jérémie Beyou set the pace at the front with his "Charal". He was followed on the morning of 1 December by Sébastien Simon on "Groupe Debreuil" and Clarisse Crémer on "L'Occitane en Provence", who was the fastest boat in the top ten at times during the morning. In fourth place was ex-Malician Nico Lunven, who is looking to master his first solo race on the "Holcim-PRB" he has taken over. He defended his position against the co-favourites behind him with their 2023 newbuilds: Yoann Richomme on "Paprec Arkéa" (5th) and Transat winner Thomas Ruyant on "For People" (7th).
41-year-old Nico Lunven familiarised himself with his new boat during the transfer from France to the Caribbean with Rosalin Kuiper and other crew members from Team Holcim-PRB. His objective for the race: "I see it as a great opportunity to learn how to use 'Holcim-PRB' properly."
My main goal is to qualify for the Vendée Globe and get to Lorient without any problems." Nico Lunven
The level-headed skipper with a lot of navigation experience, whom they called "The Brain" in Team Malizia, explained: "If I can be faster than my competitors, then I will. The basic aim is to qualify for the Vendée Globe and get to Lorient without any problems. So where is the line between learning, the race, the desire and the need to reach the finish of the race? The positioning of the cursor will certainly change during the race depending on the weather conditions. They will strongly determine how hard you can push."
Follow the return à la base in the LIVE tracker:
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The video for the start of the Retour à La Base:
And this is what Boris Herrmann says - the start video of Team Malizia:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
