New York-Vendée Race – Jérémie Beyou clinches first major solo victory
by JL /Mer and Media on 8 Jun 2016
Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) - 2016 New York–Vendée Race Benoit Stichelbaut / Sea&Co
With 150 days to go to the start of the Vendée Globe, Jérémie Beyou could not hide his joy this afternoon at 1237hrs UTC, when he crossed the finishing line as winner of the first New York-Vendée race in Les Sables d’Olonne. The skipper from the Bay of Morlaix completed the crossing in 9 days, 16 hours and 37 minutes, proving the quality of the work done over the past few months on his Maître CoQ monohull. Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild) finished in second place at 1506hrs UTC, followed 90 minutes or so later by Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss). These three make up the podium for this transatlantic race.
Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) has won the first edition of the New York - Vendée (Les Sables d'Olonne) race. This is his first major solo victory on an IMOCA60. The sailor from Western Brittany finished ahead of Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild) and Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), and now looks like being a serious contender for the Vendée Globe, which starts from Les Sables d'Olonne on 6th November.
Very emotional, the skipper of Maitre CoQ gave us his first impressions. “This win is fantastic news, as this was a solo transatlantic race on IMOCA60s. I had already won the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre, but this time I was all alone. On top of that, the finish is in France, here in Les Sables d'Olonne. This was what the whole fleet was aiming for in this race. We had to show what we could do to build up our confidence before the start of the Vendée Globe. This is simply fantastic.”
Jérémie Beyou has achieved his first major success on an Imoca 60, as he approaches his fortieth birthday. After sailing 3460 miles at an average speed of 14.85 knots, he has shown that it was a wise choice to fit foils to his Maître CoQ.
As he enters the final stretch in the preparation for the eighth Vendée Globe, he can now feel confident about the ability of his boat to keep up with the latest generation monohulls and in his own aptitude at sailing her.
Maitre CoQ vainqueur de la Transat New York-Vendée by VendeeGlobeTV
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