Vincent Riou on PRB wins Calais Round Britain Race

Almost total domination

Vincent Riou and his crew have just completed a virtually faultless race, at the head of the fleet since two days after the start on Sunday 3rd June: crossing the finish line in Calais at 21 hours 37 minutes 36 seconds on Tuesday 12th June, PRB (II) wins its first race since its launch in September 2006.

Whilst virtually the whole Calais Round Britain Race has been coloured by breezes of less than 18 knots and a good dose of fog over the past 1,815 miles, the last few tacks were devoured at high speed in a W'ly air flow, building dramatically over the course of the afternoon to reach in excess of 25 knots on the approach to Pas de Calais! Accompanied by Sébastien Josse, Hugues Destremau, Eric Carret and Jean-Marc Failler, Vincent Riou has taken 9 days 07 hours 7 minutes 36 at an average speed of 8.13 kts to circumnavigate the British Isles, racking up his second victory in this event after that of 2003 (9d 9h 48’ 51).

The winner of the last Vendée Globe has perfectly controlled his ten competitors, only leaving Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) the leadership for a day and a half as the fleet hot-footed it out of the Channel (from 4/06 at 0800 to 5/06 to 1600 hours)… And though the two crews shadowed each other around the coast of Ireland, it was during the tacking frenzy offshore of the Hebrides that PRB really managed to break away: whilst Jean Le Cam persevered right the way along the coastline of the Isle of Lewis. Vincent Riou broke the tactical control to concentrate on strategy, by making as much Northing as possible so as to be the first to reap the benefits of a wind shift expected over Shetland. And with a ten mile lead at Saint Kilda (8th June at 1200 hours), they stretched their lead to twenty miles as they passed Muckle Flugga at the Northern tip of the archipelago, at 61° North (9th June at 2000 hours).

Whilst his competitors were still sailing upwind in a bid to round Shetland, PRB were able to sprint off downwind and increase their lead to 30 miles (10th June at 0600 hours), then 55 miles (11th June at 0400 hours) off Newcastle. The lead gradually extended during the descent of the North Sea and despite the windless zones forecast before the finish, the distance between them and the chasing pack barely fluctuated. All that changed was that Jean Le Cam left the second place to Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore), 40 miles astern of Vincent Riou (12th June at 0400 hours)… Unfortunate during the last Route du Rhum following a dismasting the day after the start, the skipper of PRB can be satisfied with his effective winter programme of work in Port la Forêt, NW France, where his latest generation Farr design was built. An excellent taster of the kind of performance that is in view for the Fastnet Race (August) and the double-handed circumnavigation with Sébastien Josse in the Barcelona World Race (November).

Behind this unrivalled winner, Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) is likely to finish in the early hours of Wednesday after a pretty little E'ly offshore option in the North Sea, closely followed by Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux) and a little further back, Dominique Wavre (Temenos).

Behind, the battle for fifth place is still very much on. Four monohulls are still very bunched with a last stretch of tacking still ahead for Generali (Yann Eliès), Artemis Ocean Racing (Jonny Malbon), Roxy (Samantha Davies) and Akena Vérandas (Arnaud Boissières). Dee Caffari (Aviva) is bringing up the rear, with a finish expected on Wednesday night.

All of these crew will be keen to beat the record for the Dover-Calais crossing, held by Charles Heidrich in 2003, in a time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 50 seconds. A time which Vincent Riou and his four crew have just beaten in a time of 1hr 8 minutes and 57 secs at an average speed of 7.35 kts.