After a little over one hour of racing on Saturday, Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier’s monohull Safran won the Transat Jacques Vabre – Laguna Trophy prologue, while Bruno Jourdren and Nicolas Pichelin grabbed victory in the Class 40 category on Lord Jiminy.

In dull and overcast weather with poor visibility, the wind was only blowing at around ten knots in Seine Bay. However, this did not deter Kito de Pavant and Sébastien Col, who got off to a very quick start for this prologue of around eight miles.

With the large gennaker hoisted for this first tack reaching, Groupe Bel led the way, followed right behind by Jean Le Cam and Gildas Morvan’s VM Matériaux. Behind it was tough going for Marc Guillemot, who got blocked in on the starting line. Still further back, probably due to a technical problem, Michel Desjoyeaux brought up the rear on Foncia. Thirty minutes later, on a second tack reaching, which brought all these great names in towards the coast and the crowds of spectators, Safran and Foncia were back in the game, easily overtaking the boats from the previous generation. For the last tack, sailing close hauled with the main gennaker the crew of Safran skippered by Marc Guillemot really showed their skill. “We could see there was less wind to the left. We got on the right track and downwind overtook Ecover and that’s what it takes to win a race, which began rather badly. I cannot but feel happy, as it was after all the boat’s first race.”

Forced to tack to reach the final mark, Groupe Bel would finish in fifth place behind Foncia, who also managed to get back in the race, and Gitana Eighty. Quite logically the brand-new boats grabbed the winning places, with the exception of Brit Air and Generali, who did not seem to do well in the light airs.

In the Class 40 category, the new generation boats were also up at the front. They set sail ten minutes after the 60ft Imoca boats, and were up with the winners, with victory going to the talented Bruno Jourdren on his Lord Jiminy, after a remarkable race. He was followed by the English yachtsmen, Tom Gall and Daniel Gohl (Concise) and by their compatriot Peter Harding (40 Degrees), helped out this time in the Jacques Vabre by the French yachtswoman, Anne Liardet.

The 61-strong multihull fleet that was due to race its prologue on Sunday had to remain in the port due to strong winds.

The 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre Race starts next Saturday (3 November) from Le Havre, France.

Overall Results
IMOCA

1. SAFRAN
2. ECOVER
3. FONCIA
4. GITANA EIGHTY
5. GROUPE BEL
6. ARTEMIS
7. VM MATERIAUX
8. CHEMINEES POUJOULAT
9. ROXY
10. MAISONNEUVE
11. GENERALI
12. AVIVA
13. CERVIN ENR
14. GREAT AMERICAN III
15. AKENA VERANDAS
16. BRIT AIR (OCS)
PAKEA BIZKAYA 2009 (NON STARTER)

Class 40
1. LORD JIMINY
2. CONCISE
3. 40 DEGREES
4. CLARKE OFFSHORE RACING
5. TELCOM ITALIA
6. DEEP BLUE
7. ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM
8. MISTRAL LOISIRS
9. GROUPE PARTOUCHE
10. CHOCOLATS MONBANA
11. EDF ENERGIES NOUVELLES
12. PINDAR 40
13. E. LECLERC
14. FUJIFILM
15. APPART’CITY
16. MERCI LES AMIS !
17. COMMERCE EQUITABLE
18. EN AVANT LES ENFANTS !
19. MERENA
20. NOUS ENTREPRENONS
21. GROUPE SEFICO
22. THIRARD
23. JARDIN BIO – PREVOIR
24. GONSER GROUP
25. GRASSI BATEAUX
26. A.ST GROUPE (OCS)
26. SIDACTION (OCS)
26. OCEAN WARRIOR KASIMIR PARTNERS (OCS)
26. NOVEDIA / SET ENVIRONNEMENT (ABD)
26. NC (Marc LEPESQUEUX)