Salvador (Brazil) (AFP)

The shock duo formed by sailors Yann Eliès and Charlie Dalin (Apivia) won the Transat Jacques Vabre in the flagship category Imoca monohulls Saturday night in Salvador de Bahia (Brazil).

The tandem cut the finish line at 21H23 Saturday local time (01H23 French time), after a crossing from Le Havre in 13 days, 12 hours and 8 minutes.

The two visibly delighted sailors raised their arms in the air as a sign of victory at the crossing of the finish line, facing the lights of the Brazilian city.

Yann Eliès, 45, had already won the race, with Jean-Pierre Dick (St Michel - Virbac), in this same category of boats at the last edition of the race held every two years. The navigator from Saint-Brieuc, also winner of three Solitaire du Figaro, also won the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) in 2013 in the multihulls category.

For skipper Charlie Dalin, 35, this is the second participation in the TJV, after a first crossing in 2015 in duet with Yann Eliès already. They were then on the 3rd step of the podium after an extremely hot race.

Le Havrais, like Yann Eliès, is a candidate for a participation on November 8, 2020 in the most emblematic offshore single-handed race, the Vendée Globe, this nonstop and non-stop world tour nicknamed Everest of the Seas.

The 14th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre was won, all categories combined Friday by the tandem Gilles Lamiré / Antoine Carpentier. On board their multi-class trimaran (Group GCA - One Thousand and One Smiles), the two sailors advanced ahead of the two other multihulls entered, after a crossing of 11 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds.

The class of Imoca, these 18-meter monohulls competing in the Vendée Globe, is the flagship category of this 14th edition, one year of the Vendée Globe.

Three categories (Multi50, Imoca and Class40, monohulls of 12 m) compete this year in the Transat Jacques Vabre, the longest transatlantic race with its 4,350 nautical miles (about 8,000 km), created in 1993 by the city of Le Havre and the famous brand of coffee.

© 2019 AFP