Salvador
de Bahia, Sunday 30^th October, 2011 – David
Raison has won the single handed Transat 6.50 on his innovative boat TeamWork
Evolution. His
achievement will be a milestone in the world of yacht racing.

Raison
crossed the arrival line at 18 :43 UT; he sailed the 3120 miles long second leg
between Madeira and Salvador de Bahia in 17 days, 6 hours and 13 minutes, at an
average speed of 7.53 knots. The skipper from Lorient beats the previous record
on this course by twenty minutes.

David Raison took the lead soon after the Cape Verde Islands. He sailed
superbly and kept the lead since crossing the Doldrums. He crossed the arrival
line 130 miles ahead of his direct opponent, Thomas Normand, and 330 miles
ahead of the pack.

David’s boat, with her strange looking round nose, has proved to be excellent
on this difficult course, and especially when sailing between 60 and 90° from
the true wind, where she was simply unbeatable, achieving speeds up to one knot
superior to her opponents.

“When I saw that I was ahead of the fleet coming out of the doldrums, I
thought “this race is for you! Don’t mess it up, don’t fall in the water,
don’t break the boat”, said David Raison soon after the arrival.
“This boat is fast and exceptional; she helped to compensate some tactical
mistakes. Sometimes, I was

even slowing down because the boat was banging hard. I slept better last night.
I wanted to be in good shape today, I didn’t want to miss the arrival… This
was my fourth transatlantic race and my last goal was to finish before
nightfall and see Bahia under the sunlight. Tonight I can enjoy a nice big
piece of meat in the restaurant; it’s fantastic!”

David’s victory is in line with the history of the Mini Class, who has seen innovations
such as canting keels, ballasts or carbon masts, used today on all race boats.
Nobody knows yet whether this type of boats will be seen on other, bigger
classes in the future; yet one thing is sure: everyone is going to have to
think about it.

Philippe Rey-Gorrez, the President of TeamWork, travelled from Geneva in order to
welcome the winner. “We already came for Alex Pella’s stopover victory in 2005
under TeamWork’s colours. It is always a wonderful moment and we are hugely happy.
We are pleased to have been able to contribute to this success and no, we wait
impatiently for Etienne David’s arrival. His goal in his first transatlantic
race is to finish in the top ten. He currently fights in the top group and can
get a great result following his superb fourth place in the first leg.”

Visit the team’s Facebook
page here.

 VIDEO:Courtesy
TeamWorkVM.