Five Ultims will set off this Saturday, September 28 at 1 p.m. from Concarneau for 1,760 miles which will take them to Antibes.
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The giants of the seas will leave, as a crew, for a route more southerly than the usual Atlantic loop, towards the Mediterranean in the footsteps of Ulysses. The route, linking Concarneau (Finistère) to Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) will be one of the last rehearsals before the stand-by periods of the winter record campaign for some of the boats and the preamble to a larger and recurring project in the Mediterranean for ULTIMs from spring 2026.
Three weeks after the 24h Ultim, won in Lorient by the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild at the end of a race full of twists and turns between the five ULTIM® entered, the same players find themselves in Concarneau, from where they will set off Saturday at 1 p.m. on the second edition of Finistère Atlantique.
The first in July 2022, was narrowly won by the same Maxi Edmond de Rothschild ahead of the Maxi Banque Populaire mano a mano with Gitana for five days, being in sight almost all the time. I expect the same scenario, but this time with four boats, because in two years, all of them have progressed a lot and are now very close to each other. For me, Actual Ultim 3 also has a say, because we can have quite twisted conditions. ” And the latter, winner in November 2023 of the Transat Jacques Vabre with Sébastien Josse, added: “For us, it’s the last meeting of the year, we want to end the season in style, like the last year! »
This homogeneity of the fleet was confirmed in the 24h Ultim, and if the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild finally won, adding a line to a track record which makes it the most successful ULTIM® in the fleet, its skipper Charles Caudrelier is well aware that his rivals are more than ever on his heels. “It’s clear that we are being pushed around more and more by the competition and that we no longer have the margin that we had a few years ago, but it’s much more interesting, because it pushes us to progress and question oneself and that makes this Finistère Atlantique all the more exciting. »
At the mention of the confrontation that awaits him between Concarneau and Antibes, Tom Laperche, alongside François Gabart on SVR-Lazartigue, also has his eyes sparkling: “The fleet is extremely homogeneous, we are now very close in in terms of speed, it is sometimes played out at a few tenths of a knot, and as a result, we come back to the game of pure regatta, which consists of making the right strategic choices, maneuvering well and making fewer errors than the small ones. friends, everything we love! » The winner of the Solitaire du Figaro 2022 adds: “We have real sporting ambitions in this race and above all the desire to win, especially since we have a little revenge to take compared to the 24h Ultim, during which we was in the lead three-quarters of the way. »
To finally be overtaken by the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild and Sodebo Ultim 3, whose skipper, Thomas Coville, also displays his ambitions less than two days before the departure from Concarneau: “The objective is to play with the best , we know that we are now capable of it, it is very pleasant to feel this progress. The course is also fantastically sporty, with a lot of transitions, therefore maneuvers, as the boats are closer and closer, we expect lots of twists and turns. »
If he makes this Finistère Atlantique a goal in its own right, Thomas Coville also intends to take advantage of it to perfect his crew’s automatisms with a view to the Jules Verne Trophy (round-the-world record), which he intends to tackle immediately , like the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild and SVR Lazartigue. “I really get a lot of pleasure from feeding off the energy of my teammates, their outlook, their desire, their enthusiasm, I hope that Finistère Atlantique will allow us to continue to progress and strengthen our cohesion. »
No world tour on the program for Actual Ultim 3, the oldest boat in the fleet (launched in 2015), whose skipper Anthony Marchand believes he has the means to play spoilsport on the particular course of Finistère Atlantique: “ We are certainly a little slower in pure speed than the others, but that should not be an excuse for every race. We know that on this course, and particularly in the Mediterranean basin, a lot of things can happen with options that can be very different, we will clearly have a card to play. »
It is therefore with a knife between their teeth that the five ULTIM®s will set off on Saturday, we are salivating in advance!
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