Joerg Riechers sitting comfortably on Cinnamon Girl, a rare occurence at sea.
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After 18 days of racing German sailor Joerg Riechers sailing the Owen Clarke Design Class40 Mare.de crossed the finish line of the Route du Rhum in Guadeloupe this Friday morning. After an agonising last few days where the top six competitors were never more than 150 miles apart, luck dealt a cruel blow after Riechers had commanded 3rd Place for three days. With the pack chasing the top three yachts of Ruyant, Troussel and Riechers, the wind to the North and West changed to favour this chasing group of Manuard, Noblet and Grimont. These yachts with more favourable breeze managed to overhaul Riechers, who was caught in a zone of lighter airs. There was nothing he could do but work the boat as best he could to limit the damage. Joerg can take some much earned solace from this position. Having never raced a Class 40 before he has entered the class and to his great credit sailed an excellent race. His boat has also never been raced before and he has been with the leaders all the way, a band of leading sailors who can all be counted with numerous Figaro, Mini Transat and Class40 events under their belts, We feel he has more than done the boat and ourselves a huge credit, Thank you Joerg. |
