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• A costly descent from the high, Yves Parlier and Pachi Rivero in in ninth

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The 28/11/2009

A costly descent from the high, Yves Parlier and Pachi Rivero in in ninth

To a warm welcome from fellow sailors, organisers and noisy, enthusiastic locals the Spanish flagged 1876 came in to Puerto Limon in ninth place this afternoon with Spain’s Pachi Rivero partnered by France’s Yves Parlier making a strong comeback in the last 36 hours. The pair lost more than 100 miles to Akena Verandas in recent days and fought back, gaining most of them back again.......

The duo were first to play the stealth card, working to the furthest north. For a long time they looked strong, emerging from the worst of the storm with a strong fifth place. They hung on for a long time until they were snared by the high pressure system. At times they were able to move well, but ultimately they struggled with lighter winds while their opposition were barrelling west in the trade winds.

It was a bold strategy, not unknown for the French co-skipper who has won this Transat twice

Parlier said:

“Our long descent with the high pressure system was costly. We were slowed down by the problem with the stay sail, could not go as quickly, and so didn’t manage to get to the trade winds. It has been a real pleasure to sail with Pachi, even though we had to spend a lot of time doing D.I.Y!”

“I am really happy to have finished the race with Pachi. We were behind a number of boats but also very close to them. It wasn’t easy because we lost our wind window going south to reach the trade winds. We had our fair share of technical problems too but Pachi did a great job keeping the boat moving, and we are happy to finally be here, as there were times when things were particularly hard and we weren’t sure if we were going to make it to the end of the race. I’m really pleased to have taken part, it has been a great battle,”

"It was a real pleasure to sail with Pachi, even if it was off and on organizing it. These boats of this new generation are really different from my old " Aquitaine Innovations". They feel less alive, more powerful, and don’t accelerated as quickly. But, the average speeds are up so much, the rig is really powerful, they are beautiful machines. And one thing is sure, I very happy to have done this race  It was a beautiful adventure”

Pachi Rivero, delighted to see his friends and family, the big crowds, said:  

“This is fantastic. It is wonderful to get here, and after having been alone just Yves and I without seeing anything or anyone and then get here and see all of this is wonderful. Suddenly you arrive and nothing really matters any more,” said the Spanish skipper.

It was a particularly tough race with the storm that caused such damage to the fleet on the first week of competition (4 teams abandoned racing), and the inevitable technical damage took its toll meaning the difference in the decision to continue or abandon racing, and in the actual final results,

“We had a little bad luck, because we chose a good route and were going well, but the breakages meant we had to go slower, and particularly the time it took to repair them and get the boat back to a condition to keep racing. It meant we lost out on the wind systems, as we were late getting to the wind. We had been fighting for fourth or fifth place but it was really hard for us to get to Canal de la Mona and into the trade winds, and we were just a little too late,” explained Rivero.

It has been a difficult race but also had some great moments,

“The best part of the race was when it was really windy, up against it all and the boat was really holding her own, and besides we were well positioned. That was wonderful! And sailing in the Caribbean which is all good downwind conditions, and that is fantastic,” said the Spanish skipper.

“The worst moment was when the pilot system broke. We were sailing with three reefs and staysail and had about 45 knots of wind. The staysail broke and we were going to change to a storm jib, when the boat suddenly gybed on its own, with both of us on the bow sorting things out, and we broke four battens. That was the worst moment because it took us such a long time to repair everything.”

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