Jury Route du Rhum has decided to fine the Briton Alex Thomson (Alex Thomson) for use of the motor for 24 hours in accordance with the rules of the race. The leader of the IMOCA echelon on the evening of 16 November, slammed into rocks on the North from Guadeloupe just 50 nautical miles from the finish and turned on the engine to lift the boat off the rocks. Wristwatch that was designed had to hit the owner of a weak shock when the alarm goes off, summed Thomson.
“I overslept. Not heard. When I woke up, the boat was strange. Went on deck and saw Guadeloupe, though I don’t know what it Guadeloupe. I couldn’t understand what it was until I looked at the Chartplotter and saw that I was on Guadeloupe. Has arrived!” — said Thomson.
In memory of the sailor will remain a piece of rock, which struck the body of his Hugo Boss was left inside. If the jury is not added Thompson more time as punishment, the official result in the Route du Rhum would be 11 days, 23 hours, 10 minutes and 58 seconds.
According to experts Route du Rhum, in the future the rules of the game will need to clarify, because now they allow pit stops during which the engine is permitted.
However, even after the accrual of penalty time Thompson was in the top three in its class. First place in the echelon of de jure took the Frenchman Pol Melat (Paul Meilhat), to which Thomson was sincerely desirous of victory. The way from St Malo (Brittany, France) to Guadeloupe took him 12 days, 11 hours and 23 minutes.
“I hope Paul will win. You know, he’s really cool showed itself during the race. He goes on a boat without foil. It needs to be a winner,” said Tasman during communication with the press in anticipation of the arrival of rivals.
This is the biggest win in the career of Malate, which, moreover, will likely help him to find a sponsor to participate in the world Vendee Globe in 2020.
Second place in the IMOCA echelon from Jan Elies (Yann Eliès). His time — 12 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes and 30 seconds. But Vincent RIOU (Vincent Riou) “too late” for 21 minutes and 30 seconds and could not become a third even with the penalty Thomson.
“This race was kind of a big disaster for me. Because of the constant problems I was not intuitive, as I usually do, and continuously fought with the circumstances. No regrets, because I finished. But this is not the result for which I went to the start,” said Rio.
Yourself Thomson deems unworthy of the title of winner of the Route du Rhum. According to him, after the incident, he himself was disqualified.
“It’s a shame for me and my team to be in the position in which we find ourselves. The jury appointed penalty 24 hours, which means that I will not win the race. How do I feel? I think that’s very fair, because hardly anyone needs to be a winner after I crashed in Guadeloupe,” said Thomson spontaneous applause of the audience.
Route du Rhum was for Thomson the latest in a series of setbacks that invariably haunt him in the race for the entire 20-year career. In all these years he never once failed to take first place.
“All I can do is live and learn. Life’s path thorny. You have to try and stay persistent, you have to study, you have to get better. Of course, I wanted to win this race. But my goal was to win the Vendée Globe. And I think in this race I proved that I can do it,” concluded Thomson.
imocaplaceroutethomson
What do you think?