When they crossed the finish line of the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre off Fort de France, Martinique at 04:22.12hrs local time (08:22.12 UTC) Japan’s Kojiro Shiraishi and French co-skipper Thierry Duprey Du Vorsent (DMG MORI GLOBAL ONE ) secured 22nd place in the IMOCA class.
Their elapsed time for the course is 14d23h52m12s and they finish 3d2h after the IMOCA winners
Shiraishi and Duprey Du Vorsent achieved their primary objective which was to finish the race with the boat in good shape and so enhance the Japanese skipper’s Vendée Globe qualifying process.
After a collision hours after the start of last year’s Route du Rhum, Shiraishi had to retire from the solo race from France to Guadeloupe because of damage to his IMOCA. This has made finishing this race – actually his first two handed major race – more important, as was taking care of the boat to be ready for the solo race back to France which start in eight days.
DMG MORI GLOBAL ONE was 21st on the exit out of the Channel and was up to 15th at one point after Cape Finisterre but the Japanese-French duo got stuck in lighter airs as they went late to the west and dropped a few places which they pulled back again in the Trade Winds.
Koji said. “I am very, very happy to have been able to enjoy the southerly route. It was faster to go on the north route, but the southerly route was better for us if a little slower. The trade winds were a little light, it was hard to make the boat go fast. We were trying to make the boat go faster but the northerly route was the right one. It was strange to come across the Atlantic with no rain at all. And I think we sailed the most miles of the fleet so we had the most fun. We worked hard and were good together. Now the boat is ready to have two or three days of small jobs then I will be ready to go again, but these boats are hard work for an old man!”
Average speed on the 3760 nmstheoretical course 10.45kts, sailed 5434nms at 15.10kts
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