Colombre XL finishes sixth in Transat Jacques Vabre Class40

Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciano (both Italy), on Colombre XL, have finished sixth in the Class40 of the 13^th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre after crossing the finish line in the Bay of All Saints in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil on Friday, November 24, 2017 at 05:28:53 (UTC), 18 days, 16 hours 53 minutes and 53 seconds after leaving Le Havre, Normandy, France.

Colombre XL covered the theoretical course of 4,350 nautical miles at an average speed of 9.71 knots but actually sailed 4,521 nautical miles at an average speed of 10.07 knots. It finished 01 day, 06 hours, 09 minutes and 38 seconds behind the winner, V and B.

Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani did not hang around during this 13th Transat Jacques Vabre. A former member of the Italian Olympic team, Juris was always in the race. After a cautious start in the cold front, he and Luciani moved into 6th place on November 10th, and never let go of it. Having made a significant western shift before the Doldrums, the duo lost too much ground on the front five to challenge  in the final stretch. Reaching in the south-east tradewind, as they approached the coast of Brazil they has re-aligned themselves far behind TeamWork40 and Région Normandie Junior Senior by Evernex.

They finished in a very respectable sixth place on their Pogo 40 S2 Finot-Conq-designed boat, built in 2011 for a budget well below their Manuard Mach 40 and Verdier Tizh 40 competitors. But that is not a complete surprise, they are not strangers in the Class40 fleet where they have recorded good results, also finishing sixth last year on the race Les Sables-Horta.