Par Gilles Festor
Published yesterday at 10:20 p.m., Updated now
Erwan Israel and Charles Caudrelier on arrival in Fort-de-France. Jean-Marie Liot / Alea
Maxi Edmond de Rothschild crossed the finish line of the transatlantic race this Tuesday, almost forty-eight hours after the winners.
In Fort de France
The sun was setting gently on the horizon when the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild entered the bay of Fort-de-France on Tuesday at 5:10:43 p.m. (10:10:43 p.m. Metropolitan time ), to cross the line in third position in the Ultim class. A majestic arrival in a dream setting, on an ocean with golden reflections. In the semi-darkness, a few moments later, the tandem was even treated to the fireworks that had accompanied the first two during the night from Sunday to Monday. Leaving Le Havre on October 29, Charles Caudrelier and Erwan Israel took 16 days 9 hours 5 minutes and 43 seconds to reach the Antilles at 24.16 knots, almost two days more than Banque Populaire (1 day and 22 hours precisely ) who himself had beaten SVR Lazartigue by five hours.
A result far from the hopes of Charles Caudrelier and his trimaran, which had the reputation of being the most accomplished and versatile of flying boats. Winner of the last edition of the Transat Jaques Vabre (in 2021 with Franck Cammas), then of the Route du rhum last year, Caudrelier, at the helm of his formidable machine, had even become the man to beat in this category with his partner Erwan Israel.
Favorites of the race, the duo was unable to join in the fight for victory until the end, the fault, in particular, of a damage to the steering system which occurred last Friday but also of a foil hit on the port side. A succession of problemswho got worse“, clarified Caudrelier. “We remained fully in the race until the jibe in Madeira but then on the long downwind we saw that we were handicapped by the bar and in the Doldrums we realized that we had foil problems. That’s where we stalled but the whole beginning was great even if we were already embarrassed. We were in the match“, explained Erwan Israel.
Caudrelier, «c’est MacGyver !»
Diminished, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild then saw the two leading boats moving inexorably away. Victory was gone. The Parisian and his friend covered the 2000 disabled miles, even if, by taking out the toolbox, they were able to repair the steering system. “It was MacGyver!», joked Israel about his adventure companion.
«Third is better than fourth. We are happy. It was a complicated race. It was very frustrating for me because I really struggle when the boat is not at 100%. We had been protected from all this for years. We really regretted it because the battle was really good up front and we would have liked to play with them more», commented Charles Caudrelier, torn between the joy of a podium and the frustration on the finishing pontoon.
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The team rediscovers the taste of defeat
After having reigned over ocean racing in recent years, the Gitana team must therefore learn to lose again. She will have the opportunity to take her revenge very quickly since the trimaran will be at the start of the solo round the world race which will kick off on January 7. “Does the boat keep up with the others? It’s difficult to say… We see that we all have strong points and weak points. It doesn’t take much to throw these boats out of gear. We saw that SVR Lazartigue was impressive upwind. I don’t know if we are able to maintain the average that Banque Populaire maintained downwind. I think… We’re all in a tight spot and it doesn’t matter much», detailed Caudrelier.
Caudrelier would like a new boat
One month to the day before that, the leaders will have revealed their future plans for offshore racing: the construction of a new boat to replace the current one dating from 2017 or a shift towards monohull competition. Or both if the Rothschild family, the sponsor, saw things very big to have both sides. Caudrelier already has an idea in mind: “It’s not me who decides. It’s the people above me who will make the decision but we actually want to build a new boat. But I’m very attached to this one.»
