Team Holcim-PRB greets Lady Liberty, setting sights on The New York Vendée with confidence and dedication
Wednesday May 8th at 16:25 local time (22:25 CET), Nicolas Lunven crossed the finish line of The Transat CIC. Twelve hours later the green and blue IMOCA sailed past the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.
Accompanied by his technical team onboard, Team Holcim-PRB skipper Nicolas Lunven headed to Moonbeam Marina.
It's a pretty unique feeling to sail into the bay of New York City, surrounded by these iconic monuments and sailing fans along the way. I am relieved to arrive as this transatlantic crossing was very challenging in every aspect. In the first few days, I managed to stay with the leading pack and felt very confident with the boat. However, on the fifth day of the race, when I saw that the bowsprit was broken, the dynamics of the race shifted. Of course, as a competitor, I race to win. But sailing is a technical sport, and such damages can occur. After ensuring that it was safe to continue the race on the boat, I quickly switched back to a racing mindset and pushed until the very last minute.
Despite this damage, the skipper showed great resilience by bringing the GO CIRCULAR campaign to New York.
But this solo transatlantic was anything but a solo race, demonstrating how the power of teamwork can overcome serious challenges and setbacks. The technical team had been on-site for a few days already, preparing everything for Nico's arrival. Rosalin Kuiper, skipper of Holcim-PRB, was also present to welcome Nicolas.
I'm thrilled to see our boat and Nico here in New York. He did an amazing job considering the damage that occurred. Personally, I find it even more stressful to follow the race via a tracker compared to being on the boat myself. When you're at sea and something happens, you deal with it then and there. When you watch it unfold from shore, it's more stressful.
Now, it's a new challenge for the technical team as they must prepare the boat for the next race in a very short amount of time. However, Nicolas is confident:
As soon as we learned that the bowsprit had broken, the technical team began working to repair the boat upon its arrival in New York. We have approximately 10 days of work on the bowsprit alone, so it's going to be quite a big job in the coming days. But I have no doubt that the boat will be 100% ready for the next race, starting May 29th.
This next transatlantic race will take the boat from New York to Les Sables d’Olonne (France), before the start of the Vendée Globe next November.
