Video
11.29.23
THE WAY HOME I 1 day to go before the Retour à La Base
We asked Alan Roura and Conrad Colman to tell us all about the stakes involved in the Retour à La Base course. An unprecedented transatlantic race, from west to east...
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Alan Roura is a precocious sailor. After a childhood spent on the water, on Lake Geneva, and then eleven years of sailing around the world with his family, he took part in his first major race at the age of just 20.
Mini Transat, Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques Vabre... Alan tried his hand at (almost) everything and quickly learned his ocean racing skills. Before tackling the Grail of the discipline: the 2016 Vendée Globe, which he finished in 12th position, becoming the youngest skipper in history to finish the race, at just 23 years old.
Four years later, he was again the youngest skipper to start the ninth edition, which he finished in 17th place. Not spared by technical problems, he nevertheless completed his second consecutive solo round the world race, after 95 days of pain, but rich in lessons for a third participation, already in the making.
At 29 years of age, two-time finisher of the "Everest of the Seas" and holder of the North Atlantic record, the Genevan is now thinking even bigger. With a wealth of experience and a new maturity, the Swiss sailor has acquired the latest IMOCA boat to be born, Hugo Boss, an innovative 60-foot boat with a very closed cockpit. Alan Roura, joined by the watchmaker Hublot and the Bonhôte bank, now aspires to be one of the favourites.
2023: Transat Jacques Vabre - 19th
2023: Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération - 18th
2023: Rolex Fastnet Race - 17th
2023: Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race - 8th
2022: Route du Rhum - 21st
2022: Défi Azimut - 13rd
| Name | HUBLOT |
|---|---|
| Sail number | SUI 7 |
| Architect | VPLP - Pete Hobson |
| Construction | 2019, Carrington Boats, Southampton (GB) |
| Former names | HUGO BOSS |
| Length | 18,28 m |
|---|---|
| Beam | 5,40 m |
| Draught | 4,50 m |
| Weight | 7,6 tonnes |
| Mast height | 29 m |
| Mast type | Wing mast |
| Foils | Yes |
| Sail area max. | |
| Upwind | 330 m2 |
| Downwind | 630 m2 |
We asked Alan Roura and Conrad Colman to tell us all about the stakes involved in the Retour à La Base course. An unprecedented transatlantic race, from west to east...
•••At 0830hrs UTC on Tuesday morning 40 IMOCAs will finally set sail from Le Havre, meaning that the whole fleet with its four classes in the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre will be on its way to Fort de Franc…
•••It’s going to be action-packed, with five races scheduled – including the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre and the solo Retour à La Base – and it will be a season when the pecking order for the next Vendée Globe will be …
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