L’IMOCA D’Ieteren Group and her skipper back in their port of registry in Les Sables d’Olonne
Yesterday evening, the IMOCA D’Ieteren Group crossed the finish line of the New York-Vendée Les Sables at 22h20m55s. It took Denis Van Weynbergh 15d02h20m of racing to complete the 3,200-mile course across the North Atlantic between New York and Les Sables d'Olonne.
Now qualified for the Vendée Globe since completing The Transat CIC within the deadline, the Belgian skipper will spend the summer focusing on preparing his IMOCA D’Ieteren Group.
Having left the pontoons of Manhattan on 28 May, Denis got off to a good start the following day at 14:00 hours (local time), around a hundred miles or so offshore at the virtual starting line, and set a course for Les Sables d’Olonne on France’s Atlantic coast.
Once past the waypoint at the start of the race, Denis faced his first dilemma: whether to head to the north or the south. Ultimately, he went for the northerly option following the direct route.
From the initial hours on the racetrack, the weather did not spare the IMOCA fleet. As a result, the skipper of D’Ieteren Group spent the whole night at the helm in driving rain in a bid to navigate the shifting winds dictating play in what proved to be a stormy North Atlantic.
A few days later, some water ingress was detected around the IMOCA D’Ieteren Group’s keel bolts. Putting some sealant on the area in question and running the bilge pump, Denis decided to sail with the keel in the central position to reduce the loads on it and secure the boat, which inevitably led to a necessary dip in performance.
Going forward, conditions in this transatlantic race made life tough for the 28 participants, including our Belgian skipper, who had to endure a series of storms and zones of high pressure in turn.
The programme for the middle of the race included hour upon hour trying to weave a way forward whilst keeping away from the centre of the anticyclone, the skipper ultimately deciding to circumnavigate the zone entirely. “We opted to round to the north of the anticyclone and it was as calm as a Sunday in the countryside with your grandparents. We had very grey skies and very low cloud,” explained Denis, midway through the race on Sunday 9 June.
The section of the fleet that chose the northerly option finally bunched up together again down the home straight, giving the illusion of a restart. Denis found himself surrounded by several international skippers including Conrad Colman, Kojiro Shiraishi and Szabolcs Weöres. “It feels good to see other boats on the AIS,” he admitted on Tuesday morning.
It was on Thursday 13 June at 22h20m55s that the IMOCA D’Ieteren Group crossed the finish line of the New York-Vendée in the bay of Les Sables d’Olonne, the Belgian skipper’s favourite French town.
Denis received a warm welcome at the finish, surrounded by his team of volunteers.
Up next, the skipper will take some time out before promptly getting back down to the business of preparing the boat for the high point of the season: the Vendée Globe, which sets sail on 10 November.