The arrival of the 16th, 17th and 18th of Retour à La Base
Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline), Thomas Ruyant (For People) and Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG MORI GLOBAL ONE) reached La Base de Lorient in the early hours of this morning. Here are their reactions on arrival.
KOJIRO SHIRAISHI (DMG MORI GLOBAL ONE) - 18TH
Back in solo mode after a decent Transat Jacques Vabre – that was in fact his first ever two handed race – Koji goes well in the early part of the race, finding his way well with the new, more powerful foils that were fitted to the 2019 VPLP design which was built from the same moulds as the former Charal.
He is ‘in the match’, ahead of Romain Attanasio and Pip Hare in the early part of the race, going well on the 900 mile northwards climb. But he suffers an electrical fault and hydraulic leaks. The hydraulic leak nearly causes a fire “I definitely smelled a strange burning smell,” relates , still smiling as usual but stressed as he had had no computers “That was a bit like running in the dark with blinkers on,” he recalled.
It takes him nine hours to make the repairs and he loses touch with the group he was with. He was still 15th as he approached the Azores, though but errs south of the pack to keep out of the worst of the weather. “I am in safety above all else mode I have small problems, but nothing big". And then he is caught in a windless calm behind the front. And physically he finds it all quite tough, he has bad toothache, intestinal pain, back pain but pushes hard on the Bay of Biscay and completes a good job this morning.
HIS RACE IN FIGURES
Finish time: 09:11:42hrs UTC
Race time: 11d 16h 11min 42s
Miles sailed: 4,333.20 miles
Actual average speed: 15.46 knots
Average speed on the great circle route: 12.48 knots
© © Anne Beaugé / Retour à La Base
Source : Retour à La Base
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