After a week of exhibition and non-competitive sailing, the crews of Yves Le Blévec, Francis Joyon, and Thomas Coville set sail yesterday morning at 1:02 PM, counterclockwise, with waypoints to round in Marseille (the South Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur mark), south of Sardinia (Capo Spartivento), and in Corsica (Porto Vecchio and the island of Giraglia), aiming to finish in Nice on Saturday afternoon.
The public in Nice was faithful to the event, and the “stands” of Rauba Capeù and the Promenade des Anglais were well filled.
The Nice UltiMed competitors are expected to pass the first waypoint in Marseille on the night of Thursday, in approximately 25-knot winds.
But in a dramatic turn of events: in the evening, Actual-Grand Large Emotion was forced to withdraw due to rigging damage (hydraulic jack out of service): during a tack, the mast went downwind, and the crew realized that the jack controlling the system was no longer functioning.
As a result, Yves Le Blévec decided to withdraw from the race for the safety of the crew.
Consequently, Nice UltiMed becomes a showdown between Francis Joyon’s Ultimate (IDEC SPORT) and Thomas Coville’s Ultimate (Sodebo Ultim’), two maxi trimarans with similar performance and well-prepared crews.
