Record SNSM - Initiatives-Cœur winner in IMOCA

Reaction from Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives-Cœur): “Conditions were perfect for discovering the boat without too much stress. I’d like to thank the Race Committee because the course was fantastic. Rounding Belle-Île was just sublime! Armel (Tripon) and I have fairly similar boats. We didn’t leave each other’s sides until we arrived in the channel. We battled well in crewed configuration. We put a great deal of effort into it so we could really see what the boat was made of. We can see that she works well, which justifies all the hours of work we’ve spent on her over the winter. We also tried to bring the race to life by sending images from on-board. I hope it inspires people to take the water, making sure that they’re attached securely of course, because that’s the message we’re conveying for the SNSM (RNLI equivalent): make sure you’re hooked on so you can have fun and above all come back and do it again! It’s our first victory for the boat in this race so that’s rather special and above all it been a great experience.”

Reaction from Armel Tripon (Imagine): “It was a very intense battle. We remained in contact for virtually the whole race. We chose different options in certain sections of the course, but ultimately we always ended up back together. It was our first confrontation against another IMOCA and we got a chance to see that the boat was making solid headway. It took us a while to get to grips with some of the gear and play around with the trim, but it was great racing once again and the main appeal was that we learnt a great deal. The outcome wasn’t very favourable for us but all in all they sailed better than us so it’s natural that they’re in front!”

Record SNSM - Initiatives-Cœur winner in IMOCA