The skipper of the Décision 35 has become a racing legend: with eight victories, he is now the most successful racer in history. w-team is ahead of the TF35 Artexplora, skippered by Loïck Peyron.
Geneva, June 11, 2022 – The 83rd Bol d’Or Mirabaud brought together 438 yachts this weekend on Lake Geneva. The race took place in very light conditions and was dominated for a long time by the Décision 35 and M2 catamarans, designed in the early 2000s. On the last quarter of the course, Loïc Peyron and his TF35 Artexplora came back to the front, but never threatened the leader.
Christian Wahl and his team of youngsters – Romuald Hausser, Romain Defferard, Nelson Mettraux, Guillaume Rol and Mathieu Cadei – were in the lead from the start of the race, and never relinquished it.
Perfectly mastering the subtle variations in the wind, the “Wizard of Lake Geneva”, as Christian Wahl is nicknamed, controlled the race from start to finish, crossing the finish line at 22h24’16”.
” I’m extremely happy,” said the w-team skipper at the end of the race. ” It’s a magnificent team victory, to which I’d also like to associate our meteorologist Philippe Jeanneret, with whom we worked a lot in the run-up to the race. Our victory was a combination of my experience and the freshness of the other team members. .
Long second in the race, the young sailors from the Okalys Youth Project, helmed by Arnaud Grange, took a bad option off Yvoire and lost all hope of victory. On the other hand, the brilliant and always formidable Loïck Peyron, skipper of the TF35 Artexplora, patiently kept in touch with the race leaders. It was in a comfortable second place at the winner’s finish, followed at a respectable distance by the Décision 35 Okalys Youth Project and a compact group including the M2, Blackpearl, DCM Systematic advisors and Victorinox, as well as the TF35 Zen Too and Alinghi Red Bull Racing, which had come back from a long way behind.
In the monohull class, Philippe De Weck’s Luthi 1090 Katana battled it out with the Psaros 40 Cellmen, not forgetting Thomas Jundt’s QFX and the best Psaros 33, Carpediem Cube, Eole 7 and Raijin. After a poor start, the Libera Raffica put in a breathtaking second half of the race and was among the best multihulls at around midnight.
The most represented class in the fleet, the Surprises (107 units), was dominated throughout the day by Thierry Campiche’s Adrénaline Les 2 Rives. For the vast majority of competitors, it will be another long night. This was particularly true of the Surprises, which began to cross the barge at Le Bouveret as the winners popped the champagne.
They said:
Romuald Hausser: ” The weather turned in our favor and we played with the wind we had. We knew how to work with our boat and make the most of every gust of wind, from the start to the finish line. It’s a great team victory. .
Matthieu Cadei: ” We really believed in victory 100 meters before the finish line. Last year was a big blow for us; we thought we’d win and were overtaken at the end. We stayed focused right up to the last second. .
Guillaume Rol: ” It’s great to be back with so many people! It was tough and we never let up. Arriving at La Nautique with all that atmosphere was incredible. .
