2015 Trophée SNSM – Hard battle for record title
by Vendée Globe on 3 Jul 2015
le sma de Paul Meilhat remporte - 2015 Trophée SNSM Trophée SNSM
2015 Trophée SNSM – Paul Meilhat along with Michel Desjoyeaux won the SNSM Record on Tuesday aboard his SMA monohull (François Gabart’s former Macif), after a hard battle among the four boats in the IMOCA category.
The little fleet remained close together until they rounded the island of Groix but then spread out using different strategies. Morgan Lagravière on Safran with the support of Nicolas Lunven chose to go inside the island of Yeu moving away from his rivals. Soon after, Paul Meilhat’s SMA took the lead ahead of Safran, Tanguy de Lamotte’s Initiatives Coeur and Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée.
Paul Meilhat has won his first IMOCA race. The skipper’s reaction at the finish in St-Nazaire: 'This was a great race. There were light airs at the start until Groix, then a tough battle with Safran and Initiatives-Coeur. The three of us sailed within sight of each other right up to the BXA buoy off the Gironde Estuary. We managed to keep our lead at the buoy and then keep our rivals in check on the way back up. We’re starting to understand the boat really well. We’ve been sailing on her now for three months. We had good speed and it’s pleasing to get things right. The SNSM Record is a great way of supporting the French lifeboat service (the SNSM). We’re glad that they’re there! They do an incredible job. We have already heard with the summer arriving lots of emergency calls on channel 16 on the VHF. Prevention is what really matters. That’s why we’re out here.'
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