Philippe Seguret, at the helm of the Psaros 33 Pro Yachting Nivose, won in real time. But the overall winner of the time-compensated race was Alain Stettler of the Thunersee Yacht Club, who defended his title from last year aboard his Melges 24 db.
The 53rd edition of the Translémanique en Solitaire lived up to all expectations and delivered a high-quality, intense race that was hotly contested right down to the last second and full of twists and turns.
After a close race start in very light conditions, the westerly wind gradually picked up, reaching 25 knots and allowing the fleet to make rapid progress toward Le Bouveret.
Already the winner last year, Alain Stettler of the Thunersee Yacht Club demonstrated his deep understanding of Lake Geneva by once again securing a very convincing victory at the helm of his Melges 24. Thirteenth at the halfway point, he ultimately finished fourteenth overall, 1 hour and 22 minutes behind Philippe Seguret, the winner in actual time. A narrow margin after 16 hours and 38 minutes of racing, which allowed him to win the Tuiga Challenge—awarded to the winner based on corrected time and designed to recognize the best performances regardless of the size or cost of the boats.
” I’m very happy about this latest victory,” said the winner. ” For me, coming to race on Lake Geneva is a real adventure. You have to transport the boat by road, then explore the lake… I’ve always dreamed of competing in the Translémanique as a solo sailor—it was on my “bucket list”; we don’t have anything like that on Lake Thun. .
Alain Stettler attributes his victory to the simplicity of his sailboat. ” It’s an easy boat to sail: I only have a jib and a spinnaker; there’s never any uncertainty about the gear. All around me, I saw competitors changing sails—switching from symmetrical to asymmetrical—and they often struggled when the wind was strong. .
Stettler is relatively new to Lake Geneva, but he is a very experienced competitor, having participated in two pre-Olympic campaigns in the 470 class, international Melges 24 races, match racing, and Swiss Sailing League races. “I’m glad I won on adjusted time,” he concluded. ” But what I like best is real time. For that, I’d need someone to lend me a Psaros 33… ”
The Psaros 33s, in fact, dominated the race, taking the top six spots in the real-time standings. The winner, Philippe Seguret, skipper of Pro Yachting Nivose, crossed the finish line at 12:46:15 a.m. He is 3 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Luc Munier, on Carpediem Cube, and 9 minutes and 34 seconds ahead of Nicolas Baudu, on Eole 7.
” I’m very happy; it was a great race , ” he said. “The descent toward Le Bouveret was really intense; I took several tumbles and took on quite a bit of water… On the way back, I kept an eye on my closest competitor, Eole 7. But at the end of the race, I really got a scare when Luc Munier suddenly appeared right along the shore. He almost passed me, but I just barely crossed the finish line ahead of him.”
Finishing second for the second year in a row, Munier was very pleased with the clever tactical move that allowed him to snatch second place from Nicolas Baudu, right in front of his home in La Belotte.“It’s true that I know the area well,”he confirmed. But the most exhilarating moment of the race was clearly the descent into Le Bouveret. “It was spectacular, and really “hot.” At one point, the wind was blowing at 25 knots, so I decided to lower the spinnaker; I realized I wasn’t twenty anymore… After that, the passage through Le Bouveret turned out to be just as usual—that is, completely unpredictable.”
Yet that is exactly where the race was decided. Alexander de Weck, the skipper of Katana, had a commanding lead at the time, but he was stuck in a windless patch for quite a while, just a cable’s length from the buoy, watching his opponents pass him one after another. By the time he finally caught a breeze and crossed the waymark, his opponents had already pulled far ahead.
Intense battles took place at every level of the fleet and in every category. The most popular class—and probably also the most competitive—the Surprises class, was won by Marius Lanz, ahead of Arnaud Machado and Renaud Stitelmann. Olivier de Cocatrix, sailing the Magicopapacarlo, won the TCF2 class, while Christian Monachon, sailing his 6.5 SI Ondine, won the TCF4 class. Finally, Charlotte Frei, on her 6.5 SI Gwinn Gwenn, won the Ella Maillart Challenge, awarded to the first woman based on corrected time.