FR
EN
Whilst others before them may have crawled to the line in sticky, light airs and darkness three times round the world racer Colman and his IMOCA rookie co-skipper Muzzolini made short work of the 15 nautical miles from the Diamond Rock to the line.
They crossed the finish at 10:42.05hrs local time (14:42.05hrs UTC) for an elapsed time of 15d 6h 12mn 5sec, finishing 3d 8h 39m 34s after the IMOCA winners.
It is the first race for Colman in the colours of his new sponsors MAIL BOXES ETC and follows his 18th on last year’s Route du Rhum which saw fewer IMOCAs racing.
Colman: “The race was fantastic. It was a challenging race for a number of different reasons, initially because it we had really strong conditions and we had to make sure the boat got here to the finish line. It weighs heavily on our minds when there are abandons and other competitors don’t make it here. I know the engagement which is needed to get a boat to the start line let alone to the finish. And so I do feel the loss for those who did not make it here. And so initially the race was hard as we were in survival mode, and then it was there were so many challenges in terms of routing and the strategy and also the tactics between us and the boats next to us. We were constantly presented by different routes, how to get here. You would think you just go south and west a little bit but there was a bewildering number of choices. But we are happy with our choices because within the ecosystem of all the IMOCA races particularly with the Vendée Globe just next year, and so there is an opportunity to put ourselves in Vendée Globe mode in the Trade Winds and imagine how it will be for me in 12 months, what we would do differently, and we think it was a much better school to go south than bash our brains out upwind into the fronts.”
“We are very happy with our route and what we learned along the way.”
“Flavio and I had a great time on board the boat, particularly given that we had very little time training before the start, and so there were a few question marks how it would go. But I had faith in Flavio as a person and a sailor and all of that was validated in a good way.”
Colman, Muzzolini (MAIL BOXES ETC) finish 24th in IMOCA race
Finishing in 24th place in the IMOCA fleet Kiwi Conrad Colman and French co-skipper Fabio Muzzolini enjoyed a sparkling finish on their Mailboxes ETC across the Fort-de-France line in warm morning sunshine and a building trade wind, they concluded their race from Le Havre with a final sprint.
