Two more arrivals

Tim Wright and Nico Brennan claim fifth place in the Solidaire du Chocolat

Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon on Cargill-MTTM have taken fourth place in the Solidaire du Chocolat. They crossed the finish line today at 02:41:50 GMT after 28 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes and 55 seconds at sea. Fifth place has also since gone to Anglo-Aussie duo Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan on Sail4Cancer/Palanad 2, who put on a fantastic performance finishing at 12:47 GMT. They are the first amateur crew to complete the 5,000 miles long race between St Nazaire and Progreso on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Tried by the passage of six lows over the Atlantic passage, Cargill-MTTM sufferedrecurring energy problems on board which forced them to make a pitstop in St Barts to replace an alternator belt. After the statutory minimum 3 hours (and 1 minute) wait in Gustavia, they set sail again having recharged their batteries in every sense of the term. Conditions that followed left little room to put them in contention for the podium.

"What pure joy it is to cross the finishing line…" said Tripon. "And what a welcome. It reminded me of my win in the Transat 6.50 in Salvador de Bahia. Damien and I were always in synch and I thoroughly enjoyed racing with someone of my own age. We gave up counting the number of depression. Our aim was to sail fast and finish in the top five, so I have no regrets about not having finished in the top three. Once we knew that we had to put into port, it became more complicated. Then we adopted a more opportunist approach as far as Jamaica, but there wasn’t really much we could do. We found the conditions were not horrific and were always manageable. The Class 40 are seaworthy boats and we always felt safe. This class has got what it takes to grow in importance. We sailed a good race, with some exceptional surfs. It makes me want to race one in the Route du Rhum."

Damien Seguin added: "We’ve been looking forward to this finish. We sailed a real seaman's race. We finish pretty well placed and I’m satisfied that we handled things well on a day to day basis. This finish is a fantastic victory for us - we sailed a clean race and were a great team! It’s no mean feat racing two-handed for a month, but on this Solidaire, it was just great fun! Armel has a great quality of ocean racing yachtsmen in that he never gets that worked up about anything, and yet never loses an ounce of will to win. We never let up - we fought like dogs. All of that in a super state of mind and putting up with difficult conditions with maximum fun !"

From Sail4Cancer/Palanad 2Tim Wright said: "It’s a relief to finish. It feels good when it stops. It was a very tough and very long race. The St Bart’s gate was a special moment - pleasant in a way, but hard to realise that there were still 1,500 miles to go. Unsteady winds in terms of speed and direction made the last week hard, particularly on our nerves! But we are pleased to have sailed this race which we found really trying. At the instant when we crossed the line, I am not sure that I would want to go through that again. Conditions did nothing to spare us and we just sailed our race without ever running into another boat."

A lively evening is expected in Progreso with the arrival of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva on Desafio Cabo de Hornos. The Chileans are expected to cross the line between 0100 and 0200 GMT. Shortly afterwards, it will be the turn of 40 Degrees driven by Brits Peter Harding and Miranda Merron. They will take seventh place, and at present are 30 miles astern of the Chileans. They should crossed at 0200-0400 GMT.

Felipe Cubillos, skipper of Desafio Cabo de Hornos reported : "It’s dawn and we have the coast of Yucatan to leeward and the breeze stayed with us overnight. We’ve reduced the distance of Sail4Cancer ahead of us and have increased our lead over 40 Degrees behind us. As always, congratulations to the winners and it has been a privilege to share the race with Tanguy de Lamotte, Giovanni Soldini and Bernard Stamm. We don’t want to just pay tribute to these giants of offshore sailing, but also to congratulate all the other boats in the race: all the boats still racing and the boats that fought hard, but have had to retire. Many of the boats still racing are already with very little food, tired, very tired, and some are frustrated and with little water….but they continue fighting. They do not surrender and they are giving everything to get to the finish line, even though some of them may be five days from Progreso. In a society where the important thing is often success and victory with a culture of winner-takes-all, we want to pay tribute to the teams still fighting who don’t care about fame or recognition and for whom the finishing of the race is fulfilling and of prime importance."

From 40 Degrees Miranda Merron sent this: "After the horrible night we went through last night, the wind returned just before dawn and we were treated to a brilliant day of Caribbean sailing. We’re crossing the Yucatan canal in a 2.5 knot current. 30 miles from now, we’ll be at the north-east tip of land with just 150 miles to go before Progreso. This morning, we’re 2300 miles from the finishing line of a 5 000 mile long transatlantic yacht race which was not easy, not at all. That’s what sailing about though!"

Further downfield, south of the Dominican Republic, the weather is not co-operating for the next finishers. The remaining 1,000 miles to finish the Solidaire du Chocolat are going to be full of surprises with squalls and unstable conditions kicked up by a depression have brought the fleet together. Five boats are now within 40 miles of one another.

More photos on the following pages...