Gartmore 5th in Leg 5 of EDS Atlantic Challenge

GARTMORE FIFTH INTO ST MALO

Josh Hall and Gartmore finish the EDS Atlantic Challenge

Ghosting silently in the night, Josh Hall and his team aboard Gartmore sailed across the finish line off the Moles Noires to finish the final leg of the EDS Atlantic Challenge, and dropped their sails. It had been a long, slow, frustrating end to an otherwise eventful passage from Boston. The last day had been one of the most tedious with light winds and a counter current conspiring to delay their arrival. Despite the dark night, the colourful sails on Gartmore lent an atmosphere of gaiety, and even with a broken rudder and the lateness of night, the crew spirits were high.

“We had a great race,” said Hall. “We never won, we did not even finish on the podium, but we probably had more fun than most of the other boats and that’s what matters to us at this point.” Gartmore suffered some serious damage after colliding with a submerged object four days before finishing. The collision broke off their port rudder. From there to St Malo they were only able to sail on starboard tack, or with the boat very level on port tack. “Losing our rudder was a blow,” said Hall, “but that’s yacht racing and you deal with whatever you get as best you can. It has not dampened my enthusiasm for this event. I think that the EDS Atlantic Challenge is a terrific race with a great future and I look forward to the next one.”

Gartmore’s official finish time was 23:37:18 local time, 01:37:18 GMT. The last yacht still racing, AlphaGraphics (Helena Darvelid) is expected to arrive late Tuesday night.

Boat Positions and official finish times for Leg 5

At 22:40 GMT Sunday, on a distance to finish (DTF) reading, the positions were as follows:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com EDS Atlantic Challenge Page