Paprec Sailing Team won the third Grand Prix of the 52 Super Series at Lanzarote last week, solo ocean racer Yoann Richomme stepping into the navigator's seat for what he called a "hyper enriching first experience."
The Marina Rubicon Lanzarote 52 Super Series Sailing Week ran over five days and seven races. Paprec finished on top, their first event win in fifteen years on the TP52 circuit, and currently sit fourth in the 2026 championship standings.
Richomme's usual office is an 18-metre IMOCA, sailed alone. Thirteen crew on a TP52 is a different world entirely. He came into a slot normally held by team technical director Jean-Charles Monnet, who is occupied with the construction of Paprec's new IMOCA, and settled alongside tactician Loïck Peyron. "I arrived in a team that is well-drilled, organised, and has known the circuit for ten, maybe fifteen years," Richomme said. "Integration was easy because they were performing really well. I'm almost an add-on, autonomous within the whole thing."
Peyron and Richomme split responsibilities cleanly. Peyron owned tactical positioning, mark approach decisions, and small placements. Richomme held the wider picture: wind tracking, overall race situation, shielding the helmsman and tactician from tunnel vision. "The helmsman and tactician can quickly get caught up in the moment and lose the broader, zoomed-out view of the race," Richomme said. "I'm mainly there to keep the big picture in mind, to re-steer certain strategic choices and certain risk decisions."
He didn't stay glued to the tablet, either. Richomme described enjoying the role of a free electron, lending a hand wherever a crew member was under pressure or a manoeuvre going sideways. Project skipper Stéphane Névé noticed. "Yoann's experience, his calm, his analytical ability and his good communication with Loïck were genuine assets," Névé said. "Usually Yoann is making decisions on a 24- to 48-hour horizon. Here the decisions come in a minute, sometimes a second. With Loïck, they managed to find each other, and it's important that they're on the same wavelength."
The scoreline told the story. Three podiums from the first three races, 2-1-1, then a steadier second half, 4-9-5-2. The final standings came down to a last-leg battle with Quantum, the overall classification reportedly changing three or four times in the closing stages as spinnakers blew and boats traded places. Névé credited consistent kite handling as decisive. "We didn't blow a spinnaker, while others blew several on consecutive days," he said. "When you have breakages, it doesn't help."
The win carried extra weight, Richomme said, because Paprec builds on a tight, stable crew rather than recruiting marquee names from outside. "It's a project that keeps progressing, in sporting results but also in technical management, in investment, and in equipment. They know where they've come from and they know where they stand."
Richomme will return for the Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 Super Series Royal Cup, starting 24 August. Consistency is the stated goal. "The slightest slip follows you to the end," he said. "You want scores around third or fourth every race, rather than winning one and finishing last in the next."
For Névé, attention turns to ironing out the small mechanical issues that emerged during a demanding week before the next event. The exercise also feeds directly into Richomme's Vendée Globe preparation. A long stretch away from pure performance sailing, it seems, sharpens the appetite. "It's been a long time since I could concentrate purely on performance work, on sailing, looking at some very specific numbers," he said. "It definitely gives you ideas for what's coming next. It feels great to be back sailing with a crew, the contact, sailing so close together. Long may it continue."
Editor’s Note: A Triumphant Return from Injury
Yoann Richomme’s victory at Lanzarote marks a remarkable comeback following a serious setback earlier in the season. In April, the solo ocean racer suffered a major collision during the Trophée BPGO, resulting in three broken ribs. The severe physical demands of solo racing forced him to officially withdraw from the Solitaire du Figaro on 11 May, handing his helm over to Martin Le Pape.
Fortunately, his fully-crewed role as navigator aboard the TP52 Paprec allowed Richomme to leverage his tactical brilliance without the gruelling solo physical labour, marking a flawless and victorious return to competitive racing.
