| Route du Rhum: Brian Thompson completes solo transatlantic race |
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| Sunday, 12 November 2006 | |
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Camilla Green: At 05.34 GMT this morning, world record breaking skipper, Brian Thompson completed his first solo transatlantic race, the Route du Rhum onboard the Open 60, Artemis. Thompson, who has recorded 25 previous records to date and is sponsored by Artemis, one of the UK's leading investment companies, finished the historic race in sixth position. The race started from St Malo in Northern France, on 29th October, from where the fleet raced across the Atlantic and finished in Guadeloupe. Thompson was the only British competitor in his class in the race, which is one of the most established single-handed transatlantic races in the world. The race has been contested every four years since 1978 and took the fleet of 13 Open 60's on a 3510 mile dash across the Atlantic. It is world renowned for its hostile weather and seas and in the last edition of the race 28 boats out of the 58 starters were unable to finish. In completing the race, Thompson has joined the likes of fellow Brit Dame Ellen MacArthur who held the course record of 13 days, 13 hours and 47 minutes which has now been beaten by over a day by this years race winner, Roland Jourdain (FRA). Arriving in Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe, Brian commented: "It has been a great race, and I am really pleased with the boat's performance. It was fantastic to get out into the open water of the Atlantic and we, at times, experienced some perfect weather for solo racing. It's been a very interesting race, a very competitive fleet and some amazingly fast new boats on the water. This was my first solo race on board Artemis and so I am delighted to have arrived and to have shown that we are able to compete for the top positions. It's been a steep learning curve but I am now looking forward to spending some time on dry land before my next challenge." It has been a very eventful two weeks on the Atlantic with 11 of the starting 74 yachts being forced to retire. Of the 11, four boats capsized including one of the pre-race favourites Orange Project, skippered by Steve Ravussin, who was rescued by his fellow competitor onboard Okhta Bridge. Another boat to suffer was Vincent Riou, whose yacht PRB lost her mast midway through the race. Brian finished the race hot on the heels of fifth placed Dominique Wavre onboard Temenos II whilst the seventh placed competitor still approximately 2 days away from finishing. Mark Tyndall, Chief Executive of Artemis commented: "We are delighted that Brain has finished such a challenging race in what can only be described as very tough conditions. It was fantastic to be out on the water and see the fleet leave St. Malo to such an outstanding send off. We have all followed Brian avidly throughout the highs and lows of this race and we are delighted he has finished. Artemis is proud to be associated with Brian and we are looking forward to future challenges together." For further details on the latest positions, visit www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com. http://www.artemisoceanracing.com/ |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 12 November 2006 ) |
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