Paul Meilhat's French crew United by the Ocean has taken out the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic, edging out Francesca Clapcich's 11th Hour Racing in a finish that came right down to the wire off the French coast.
For hours the two boats traded the lead, separated by mere metres at times as they closed in on Lorient.
It made for a stark contrast to the drama that had defined most of the crossing. Earlier in the race the six-strong fleet of 60-foot foiling IMOCA yachts had surfed ahead of an eastward-moving low pressure system, punching through bumpy seas at speeds over 30 knots. By the finish, the boats were ghosting along in around 10 knots of breeze on a flat sea.
11th Hour Racing had taken the lead at around 1100 CEST that morning, overhauling Kojiro Shiraishi's DMG MORI Global One after the Japanese boat had held top spot for the previous 48 hours. That lead didn't last.
United by the Ocean soon powered back past DMG MORI Global One too, and the real contest began.
From there it was a match race to the line. The two lead boats converged over the closing 10 nautical miles, their courses narrowing as they approached Ile de Groix. In the end it was Meilhat's decision to sit further north that made the difference, the French boat easing into a one nautical mile buffer in the fickle, light air that held all the way to the finish.
United by the Ocean crossed after seven days, 23 hours, 39 minutes and 11 seconds of racing. 11th Hour Racing followed just eight minutes and 56 seconds later, agonisingly close after a week at sea.
Behind them, DMG MORI Global One had a fight of its own on its hands. Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia had been as far back as 40 nautical miles at midday, but clawed hard into the finish. Shiraishi's crew held on for third in eight days, four minutes and 40 seconds. Malizia crossed just five minutes later to take fourth.
For Meilhat, the win adds to a strong run in this boat, previously campaigned as Biotherm, after his victory in last year's mostly light-wind edition of The Ocean Race Europe.
"The boat is not the latest [design]," he said. "It is fast, but we had some bad moments because it is not really fast in the big waves. Three days ago we had a really tough night in big waves in the wrong direction. But we know that in medium and light wind on flat water it is really, really fast. A lot of races finish in these conditions. We are a good team with this boat and that is working well."
Asked what had swung the race in his favour, Meilhat wasn't giving much away.
"For me what is important is not the result. It's the way in which we built the result. So I prefer to keep in mind [to myself] the good moments and how we can repeat them in the future."
