New discoveries and tight racing
After a little mishap with the spinnaker, the pair was not discouraged and remained in the game. This race allowed both Romain and Sébastien to discover the new boat.
Romain Attanasio - "We knew this race was going to be a lot of spinnaker racing, so we bought a brand-new spinnaker before the start. We were very careful. We passed Fernando de Noronha, put the spinnaker up, started to accelerate... and then suddenly, I heard a big noise that sounded like a spinnaker blowing. We managed to get the pieces back in the boat quite quickly, sent up the big gennaker, but as we were unfurling it, we saw a huge tear in it, so we sent up the small one. We managed to fix it, but we had lost a lot of ground on the competitors.
It was a discovery. We sailed as much as we could, but we see that we still lacked some knowledge of the boat. That was a disadvantage at the beginning, but afterwards we learned a lot. I was a bit overwhelmed after the Vendée Globe because everything went so fast, so I was happy that it was a double-handed year. I wanted someone to be there from the beginning to the end to take charge of the boat with me, and Séb was there from the launch to the end of the race.
Since 2015, I've always had more adventure projects, and now I'm back to feeling like I did when I was a Figaro racer. We find ourselves racing Figaros on IMOCA boats."
Sébastien Marsset -"It was great. The boat is great. I think it's the best boat I've ever raced on. I had a lot of fun. It was important, in order to move forward, to have a different opinion on how to use the boat, to find the right settings. The descent of the Doldrums in Fernando de Noronha was incredible and encouraging for the foilers."
Teams info
The Ocean Race will return to Genova for European event in 2025
Following the success of ‘The Grand Finale’ in 2023, Genova will be a key stopover for The Ocean Race Europe in 2025.
•••The Transat CIC: A new beginning for Bellion and a return to solo racing for Pedote
For Éric Bellion The Transat CIC, which starts from Lorient bound for New York on Sunday, is a huge moment in his journey to this year’s Vendée Globe.
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