ARRIVAL ON AFRICAN TERRITORY – CREDIT MUTUEL MAKES ITS MARK
Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier on CREDIT MUTUEL marked the start of this second edition of the GLOBE40 with their victory in the first official leg of the event. It was at 08:37 UTC today that they crossed the finish line off the city of Mindelo on the island of Sao Vincente in the Cape Verde archipelago; they covered a distance of 1,719 miles in 5 days, 21 hours, and 37 minutes at a fine average speed of 12.14 knots. But the race was far from easy!
Halfway through the race, approaching the Canary Islands, the NEXT GENERATION BOATING AROUND THE WORLD crew of Lennart Burke and Melvin Fink was in the lead with a lead of around fifteen miles; their excellent downwind speed, noted in the prologue, had been confirmed since the magnificent start in Cadiz. They had also beaten the 24-hour race record, which had been set in 2023, with 370 miles on the clock. But a fine move by CREDIT MUTUEL east of the island of Gran Canaria as the Germans passed further west between Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and the Germans’ loss of a key sail (A4) overboard during a maneuver, reversed the situation.
The German crew briefly took the lead again south of the Canaries, but once again, the excellent strategy of the highly experienced French Class40 skippers allowed them to take the lead along the African coast and remain in control until the finish in Mindelo. For its part, the BELGIUM OCEAN RACING – CURIUM team, led by Jonas Gerckens and Djemila Tassin, remained in constant contact with the first two, demonstrating great tenacity and finally overtaking the Germans on the final crossing to Sao Vincente. As the finish line approached, the Belgian team was in the lead with a lead of about fifteen miles. The experience of some, the passion of others, and the tenacity of the third-placed crews were ingredients that predicted some great battles in the upcoming stages of the GLOBE40.
Among the “pointus” (straight bows), the intensity of the battle was on a par with that of their “scow” (round bow) counterparts. BARCO BRASIL (José Caldas / Luiz Bolina) and FREEDOM (Maxime Bourcier / François Martin) engaged in a relentless “mano a mano” (head-to-head battle), virtually inseparable from the moment they passed the Canary Islands, despite the Brazilians’ initial lead in the first half of the race. When the former crossed the finish line, the outcome was still uncertain between the two competitors, separated by barely five miles.
In the group WILSON AROUND THE WORLD (Lisa Berger / Jade Edwards-Leaney), JANGADA RACING (Richard Palmer / Rupert Holmes), and WHISKEY JACK (Mélodie Schaffer – Craig Horsfield), a friendly Austrian/English/Canadian/American mix, Lisa Berger managed to maintain a fifty-mile lead, while the two Her Majesty’s citizens and the Canadian/American team from across the Atlantic remained in close combat in the second half of the race.
This first leg, exclusively downwind, is a welcome moment for the skippers, whose gear has become lighter, according to the videos from the shores as they descend south. After the warm-up lap of the prologue (900 miles), this new week of racing (1,500 miles) is a new step in the progression of this second edition of the GLOBE40 before tackling the long 7,000-mile stretch towards the Indian Ocean and Reunion Island.
In Mindelo, hard hit by the beginnings of Tropical Storm Erin, the crews will find a territory that has been battered but is recovering, and the event, through its presence, is happy to contribute to this renewal. Thanks to the commitment of CREDIT MUTUEL, nearly 1,200 children will be able to start their school year with supplies symbolically delivered by each boat that took a package on board, and by sending most of the freight by air. The supplies will be distributed by the Cape Verdean humanitarian association Umaniza.