Close finishing Class40 Artemis Transat fleet

by Event media on 30 May 2008 At 01:09:47 GMT this morning on Day 19 of racing (Thursday 29th May), Boris Herrmann and Beluga Racer crossed The Artemis Transat finish line in Marblehead, USA, taking 2nd place behind Giovanni Soldini on Telecom Italia. Herrmann, who celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday, had held onto second place since Sunday evening and has been consistently in the front three since Day 9.

Beluga Racing completed The Artemis Transat in 17 days 12 hours 9 minutes and 4 seconds, averaging 6.99 knots boatspeed. Herrmann crossed the line just under 14 hours behind Telecom Italia. Shortly before crossing the finish line yesterday, Soldini paid the young German skipper a compliment in a brief call to the race office: 'I told you before the start that the guy on Beluga would be dangerous!'

The Class40 fleet are beginning to roll into Marblehead in tight formation. Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR completed The Artemis Transat Class40 podium taking third place behind Boris Herrmann and Beluga Racer at 10:42:57 GMT this Thursday morning.
[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]
The 49 year-old Frenchman from Sanary-Sur-Mer completed the race in 17 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes and 57 seconds on board his one year-old Lombard-designed Akilaria 40 at an average speed of 6.8 knots.

Bouchard has held third place since Sunday 25 May after losing second place to Herrmann. Prior to dropping back a place, Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR and Beluga Racer traded second and third place for almost a week behind the leader, Giovanni Soldini and Telecom Italia.

The pair were separated by only a handful of miles from Monday 19 May until Day 15 of the race. Second placed Herrmann finished The Artemis Transat Race just under 24 hours behind Giovanni Soldini.

Next in should be Louis Duc in fourth place on Groupe Royer, he trails Mistral Loisirs – Pole Sante ELIOR by 21 miles: 'I had a bit of a light patch last night,' he told the race office at 09:00GMT, 'and I couldn’t catch Thierry Bouchard.'

Aged 25, Duc is the youngest skipper in the fleet and his enthusiasm throughout the race has been boundless: 'The boat is gliding along on her own . . . what a fantastic day for a race finish!'

Louis Duc and Groupe Royer took fourth place at 15:51GMT, followed by Halvard Mabire and Custo Pol, an amazing 14 minutes later in fifth. Groupe Royer chased to the line.

Fujifilm heads in - Updated : 29/5/2008 18:35 BST

Alex Bennett is less then 15 miles from securing 6th place


Class 40 - Finishers and positions - DTF - DTL at 16:00 hrs 29 May

1 Telecom Italia - finished
2 Beluga Racer - finished
3 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR - finished
4 Groupe Royer - finished
5 Custo Pol 0.5 - finished
6 Fujifilm 15.8 16.9
7 40 Degrees 92.3 93.4
8 Prévoir Vie 112.4 113.4
9 Groupe Partouche 133.7 134.7
10 Clarke Offshore Racing 190.9 192