Yagiza est Arrivée à Lanzarote et Prête!

Yagiza Race Team
Laurent Courbin/Philippe Falle
Wed 28 Dec 2022 18:04
Yagiza is enjoying a well deserved Christmas rest, whilst bathing in the sunshine of Lanzarote!  

She is very excited for the arrival of the first team member on Friday when Dave Latham will descend upon Lanzarote!  Closely following Dave will be Philippe on New Years Day with everyone else arriving from the 3rd January onwards.

Over the past few months much work from many people has gone into preparing Yagiza for the RORC Transatlantic Race, that starts on Sunday 8 January.  Her bottom is beautifully smooth after a painstaking performance conducted by Dave and Philippe in Malta and most notably Yagiza boasts new rudders built by the legendary Michel Desjoyeaux (two time winner of the Vendee Globe Race).  Philippe noted a remarkable performance increase whilst on delivery to Lanzarote, especially when reaching and downwind.

The meticulous preparation is now almost complete with just the finishing touches to be made in the first week of January, which includes the massive task of the food shopping for an anticipated 14 or 15 days at sea.  All pieces of safety equipment will be re inspected and safety procedures discussed and some practiced (dismasting is one we will not practice!). Finally there will be the stowing of personal kit before everyone enjoys a quiet evening on Saturday 7 January.

For most of the team this will be their first transatlantic crossing  and it will also be Yagiza’s first ocean passage, less than one month after her 2nd birthday.  For the skipper, Philippe, it will be his 11th crossing.  The last one being on Hugo Boss with Alex Thompson on a fast passage of just 5 days, when they set the 24 hour speed record (60 footer) of 541Nm!  On this crossing Yagiza will be delighted with a day of 250 miles!

Philippe and Dave have some weather coaching from leading meteorologist ChrisTibbs (who himself has broken world sailing records as navigator) over the next week and this will include help with the routing strategy.  

We all feel extremely lucky to be a part of this amazing journey and cannot wait for the start gun in just over one week.

28 57.8N 13 32.35W


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