Transat Jacques Vabre 2021: Quentin Vlamynck makes an initial assessment

Sharing a tiny space for 17 days, continuously drenched, under the stress of the competition, without ever giving up, constantly tweaking and adjusting, handling changing our sails, while always making sure there are no problems around us... High adrenaline levels from the start at Le Havre. Sleeping, eating, living on board; none of it being straightforward. On average, we were between 90 and 100% of the polar, which shows that we managed to exploit the boat, but clearly we did not benefit from the same weather conditions as the first boats.

The Ocean Fifty class has passed a milestone this year. The slightest technical problem can cost you the race. Before, you could have a podium place even though you had stopped to make repairs, but now it is no longer possible! The 7 boats can win. The standards have levelled up, so under-performance can occur. There is only one winner, and then the others. We need to make sure we learn from our defeat. We will have to analyze in detail the reasons for this frustrating result, and identify the points with room for improvement, at sea and on land.

We are in a professional sport competition, not in an amateur rally. This is called ocean racing. One other point is that when you are behind, you will not get any benefit from following the course taken by the other boats. So, we began taking measured strategic risks from Cape Verde. None of them proved productive, despite reassuring weather forecasts.

We are now approaching Fort de France, Lalou and I are going to make the most of these last few moments at sea, and we cannot wait to see you all at the finish line.

Quentin Vlamynck, Arkema 4 skipper on day 17 of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021.