IMOCA Open 60 - Retour à La Base - Martinique-Lorient FRA - Day 10 - Victory for Yoann Richhomme FRA

Yesterday evening at 17h Yoann Richhomme FRA reached the finish with his Paprec-Arkéa after exactly 9 days as the winner of the first ever 'Retour à la base', a transat from west to east. It is a first for Richhomme: victory in his first IMOCA single-handed regatta. He had previously won the Transat Jacques Vabre twice in the Classe 40 and the Solitaire du Figaro twice. His Paprec-Arkéa was only completed 9 months ago, but he owes his victory to his strategy in the centre of the Atlantic: As the most northerly Open 60, he benefited from fresher winds and was able to pull away unassailably. Jérémy Beyou FRA (Charal) was 2nd, almost 6 hours behind, and Sam Goodchild GBR (For the planet) arrived in Lorient a further 2 hours later. Today it is now the turn of Boris Herrmann GER (Malizia), who in 4th place is still 122 miles short of the finish. 50 miles behind is Damien Séguin FRA (Groupe Apicil), a further 30 miles behind is Samantha Davies GBR in 6th place. Alan Roura SUI has improved to 14th place with 613 miles to go. The race tracker and the reports.