One Skipper, One Boat, 3,000 miles...Flagship Adventures Welcomes the 2008 Artemis Transat to Boston

Flagship Adventures had the pleasure of providing the Race Committee, Media, and VIP vessels for the Boston finish of the IMOCA Open 6o class in the 2008 Artemis Transat over Memorial Day weekend. This offered our captains a front row seat to all the action. Although my memory of the event may be a bit hazy from lack of sleep (almost all the boats finished at night) and too much celebration (thanks to OC Events for that), here is a brief recap.

After 12 days at sea, Loick Peyron came screaming into Boston on Gitana Eighty around 10pm on Friday May 23rd, en route to a record breaking win. Two days earlier, Peyron had diverted course to rescue fellow competitor Vincent Riou, after his Open 60 PBR suffered keel damage in a collision with a shark. As Peyron approached Boston, one of Flagship's RIBs was dispatched to retrieve Riou off Gitana Eighty prior to the finish. On a pitch black night, with a stiff breeze, 3 to 4 foot seas, and Gitana Eighty roaring along at 15 knots just south of the Graves, this proved to be an adrenaline stirring operation.

After Rios safely transferred off Gitana Eighty, Peyron finished his historic adventure, which was memorialized by a flock of international media onboard our fleet of support RIBs. The official event website, http://www.theartemistransat.com/, has a wealth of video and photography capturing the Open 60 finishes, all of which was shot from Flagship RIBs.

With Peyron tied up at Rowes Wharf and the champagne following, second place finisher Armel Le Cleac'h arrived on BritAir shortly before sunrise on Saturday May 24th, followed by third place finisher Yann Elies, who kept the night time finish streak alive, ghosting into Boston in light winds around 11pm Saturday night aboard Generali.

After a respite on Sunday May 25th, which permitted some recovery time for the revealers who celebrated the podium finishers accomplishments, Marc Guillemost, aboard Safran, finally provided a day light finish, arriving at sunrise on Monday May 26th. Despite suffering a broken rib early on in the race, he arrived in high spirits and enjoyed his Mumm champagne celebration, before being taken to a local hospital for examination. Later that day, a local favorite, Samantha Davies, became this first Brit and first woman to finish the 2008 race, when she sailed Roxy past the finish line off Deer Island.

Monday night saw the closest finishers, with Yannick Bestaven aboard Cervin EnR and Arnaud Boissieres aboard Akena Verandas, finishing within a hour and a half of each other, in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Our local captains, as well as race management officials, let out a collective sigh of relief after Bestaven successfully navigated a perilous approach into Boston, choosing to thread the needle between the Roaring Bulls and Green Island.

Finally, on Tuesday May 27th, Dee Caffari, another local favorite and an Honorary Member of the Corinthian Yacht Club, official host club to the event, finished aboard Aviva around 11am, followed a little over 12 hours later by Steve White aboard Spirit of Weymouth.

Now, after a few days rest and some necessary repairs, the entire fleet has departed Boston and is heading back to Europe, many gearing up next for the start of the Vendee Globe later this year. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Boston and we look forward to welcoming the Transat back in 2012.