The Comeback Kids
After a long, hard-fought battle with both SAFRAN and Neutrogena, American Ryan Breymaier and Spaniard Pepe Ribes onboard Hugo Boss have claimed victory in the IMOCA Ocean Masters inaugural New York – Barcelona race. Overcoming a dismasting before the start, autopilot issues, crash jibes, broken mainsail track and a new boat and co-skipper, Breymaier has become the first American to ever taste victory in the IMOCA series, which is the world’s top shorthanded racing circuit. Adding the NY – BCN win to his previous Barcelona World Race success and countless record attempts, Breymaier has become a household name in the offshore sailing world and is poised to become the first American since the late, great Mike Plant to mount a truly competitive and corporate-sponsored Vendée Globe campaign.
Check out Braymaier’s just-released promo video where he talks about "being an example of getting out and doing what you love, and good things coming to you because of that."
On the theme of comebacks, French solo sailor Yann Elies is a man who needs almost no introduction. Last week the two-time defending La Solitaire du Figaro champion dismasted while leading Leg 1 of this year’s event, only to re-rig and return in Leg 2 to claim victory over the 37-boat one-design fleet. Stripped of any reasonable chance of winning the event overall, Elies has set himself a new goal; to catch up to Jean Le Cam’s all-time record of 10 Figaro stage wins. After his 535-mile triumph on Leg 2, which took the fleet from Plymouth to Brittany via Fastnet Rock, Yann is up to 9 career stage wins. Leg 3 (of 4) begins Sunday.
Our third comeback of this edition is that of the American TP 52 Quantum Racing team, who has bounced back from a thorough drubbing at last month’s Rolex Capri Sailing Week to claim the overall victory in this year’s Audi TP 52 World Championship. Sailing on the waters off Sardinia in mostly light air, the Americans had their hands full in earning their fourth TP 52 World Championship (2008, ’10, ’11). After two coastal races and three windward- leewards, Quantum finished just two points clear of hot new Brazilian up-and-comers Phoenix, who sailed the newest TP 52 in the 9-boat Worlds’ fleet. Class stalwart Rán Racing rounded out the hotly-contested podium just one point back of Phoenix with 13 points.