Comanche sweeps Transatlantic Race

(January 25, 2022; Day 18) – The 100-foot VPLP Design/Verdier Comanche (CAY), skippered by Mitch Booth, has achieved the quintuple for the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race. While three boats are still racing under IRC, none of them can beat Comanche’s corrected time, adding that to Monohull Line Honors and winning IRC Super Zero. Comanche also set a new Monohull Race Record for the RORC Transatlantic Race of 7 days 22 hours 1 minute 4 seconds.

The 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race was a complex challenge with several low-pressure systems disrupting the trade winds. However, three teams, all from different IRC classes, came close to overall victory. Ross Applebey’s Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster (GBR) was second overall by just over an hour. David Collins’ Botin 52 Tala (GBR) was third, less than two minutes behind Scarlet Oyster after IRC time correction.

“For any offshore race, the aim for Comanche is to take Monohull Line Honours and break race records, which we achieved when we crossed the finish line,” commented Booth. “Comanche is not optimized for IRC; we just go for speed. So, to win this race overall just ticks every box, which for the owners is just fantastic.

“They are busy guys with big businesses, but they have followed us every step of the way. Winning the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy shows just how strong and hard the crew have pushed the boat; we never let up. All credit to Scarlet Oyster and Tala who must have pushed just as hard.”

For the RORC Transatlantic Race, Comanche had 22 crew from 13 different countries. The most crew from any country was four from Russia.

“Comanche is Russian owned and the ethos is to bring on Russian sailors, and they have really started to gel into the team,” said Booth. “There is a good mix of top dinghy sailors and offshore crew that have done multiple round the world races. The experienced crew teach those new to offshore sailing; they show them what it is all about.

“By the end of this race there were smiles all around. All crew share positions on the boat, which gives everyone the opportunity to learn every role. The Russian crew are very excited to be part of that and this enthusiasm and excellent teaching works really well.

“This has been a very special win for Comanche. All credit to the RORC, they have been organising races for a very long time and we really appreciate such a high-level of race management, before, during and after the race. The attention to detail and level of safety is second to none.”

Team Comanche: Guillermo Altadill Fischer (ES), Mitch Booth (AU), Diogo Cayolla (PT), Pete Cumming (GB), Dom Davies (GB), Damien Durchon (FR), Shannon Falcone (AG), Pavlo Kalynchev (UA), Alexei Kapustin (RU), Pavel Karachov (RU), Campbell Knox (AU), Petr Lipa (RU), Lago Lopez Marra (ES), Paul Magee (AU), Will Oxley (AU), Corrado Rossignoli (IT), Louis Sinclair (AG), Justin Slattery (IE), Eduard van Lierde (NL), Rudi van Velzen (ZA), Konstantin Vasilev (RU), Daryl Wislang (NZ).

From the start, 20 of 23 monohulls and six of seven multihulls have finished, with two of the monohulls having retired.

Race details – Entry list – Results – Tracker

The 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race started January 8 for 256 sailors from 27 different countries. The record fleet of 30 boats set off from Lanzarote for the 3000nm course to Grenada.

Multihull elapsed record is 5 days, 22 hrs, 46 mins, 03 secs set in 2015 by Lloyd Thornburg’s Phaedo 3, skippered by Brian Thompson.

Monohull elapsed record is 7 days, 22 hrs, 01 mins, 04 secs set in 2022 by the 100ft VPLP Design/Verdier Comanche, skippered by Mitch Booth.

Source: Louay Habib