Basile Bourgnon won the Ocean Fifty class of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe on Wednesday, finishing first on his debut in the race despite losing both headsails on the way.
The 24-year-old crossed the line off Pointe-à-Pitre at 01:12 local time aboard Edenred 5, after 9 days, 17 hours and 10 minutes at sea.
The favourite at the start, Bourgnon took the lead from the gun in Saint-Malo and held it for most of the crossing. On Monday, with his two headsails reported torn to shreds, Thibaut Vauchel-Camus and Pierre Quiroga caught him.
He still reached Guadeloupe first, a few hours ahead of the rest of the podium.
“It is the transatlantic of my dreams,” Bourgnon said.
His father, Laurent, won the Route du Rhum in 1994 and 1998. Laurent Bourgnon went missing in a diving accident in French Polynesia in 2015.
Bourgnon finished two minutes ahead of Corentin Horeau, who won the IMOCA class in record time on the same night.
Photos: Julien de Rosa / AFP
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