Start of the Transat AG2R-La Mondiale

19/04/2010

And they’re off! Following the traditional farewells on the pontoons, the 25 duos competing in the 10th Transat AG2R-La Mondiale set off from Concarneau at 2 o’clock this Sunday.

Ronan Treussart and Yannick Le Clech on Lufthansa were in the lead at the first buoy. 3,890 miles must be covered before they will reach St. Barts.

The 25 teams set off under brilliant sunshine, with the start cannon sounding as scheduled at 2 o’clock this afternoon. With a light north-easterly breeze of 6 to 8 knots behind them, the teams paid their final farewells to Concarneau and treated the spectators aboard a multitude of boats and other old sailing ships who had come to cheer them on by making a short tour of the bay of approximately 7 nautical miles. Whilst Eric Peron and Gwen Riou (Skipper Macif 2009) were the quickest to get underway, it was Ronan Treussart and Yannick Le Clech (Lufthansa) who reached the buoy anchored off Port-La-Forêt first.
Assaulted from all sides with the spinnaker up, which carried them to the tip of Beg Meil, the pair soon found themselves in battle with Miguel Danet and Damien Cloarec (Concarneau - Saint Bath), Henri-Paul Shipman and Pierre Canevet (Maisons de l’Avenir - Urbatys), Bernard Stamm and Gildas Mahé (Cheminées Poujoulat), Jeanne Grégoire and Gérald Veniard (Banque Populaire), Yann Eliès and Jérémie Beyou (Generali - Europ Assistance) and Laurent Gouezigoux and Bertrand Delesne (Trier c’est préserver). 

Changeable weather conditions

At 4:20 pm, the boats passed the final marker on the short tour around the bay and set course for the Canary Islands where a compulsory passage point off La Palma must be crossed before heading for Saint Barthélémy. But between here and there, the teams will have to cope with changeable weather, at least for the first few hours of the race. And so the sporting challenge has begun, as has the human adventure.

Record attendance in the village

This week, more than 80,000 visitors flocked to the Transat AG2R-La Mondiale village to meet the teams and participate in a range of events – an increase of more than 30% on the figures from two years ago. On the water, more than 200 watercraft accompanied the sailing boats to the start line.

Photo Cyril Folliot/AFP-Lufthansa

Find all the latest race information on the Transat AG2R-La Mondiale homepage.