Sailing: Achille Nebout highly symbolic winner in the Med Max in Class40
|Achille Nebout et Gildas Mahé pouvait exulter après cette deuxième victoire de la saison. Med Max – Robin Christol
Le skipper montpelliérain a remporté la course chez les Class40. Lui qui a grandi sur les bords de la Méditerranée et toujours licencié à Mauguio Carnon, dont les parents sont proches de Kito de Pavant, l’organisateur.
It's the year of all happiness for Achille Nebout. In 2024, the Montpellier native became a father, to a little girl, for the first time, and won two offshore races, the Quebec – Saint-Malo and, since Friday, the Med Max.
A highly symbolic victory for the skipper of Amarris who sailed his first times on the Mediterranean, still licensed with the Yacht Club of Mauguio-Carnon and whose parents are close to Kito de Pavant, the race organizer. So when he crossed the finish line at 7:22 Moroccan time, it was an hour later in France, the adopted Lorient native celebrated on his boat, hugging his faithful teammate Gildas Mahé then shaking his fists in front of the photographers. He had taken the time to savour a few minutes before on the front of his Class40.
Ideal conditions to finish
A happiness that he then shared on the pontoons of the Saïdia marina. "It had been a long time since I had sailed in the Mediterranean, I had never done an offshore race, I was served… It's not the same thing sailing in the bay of Aigues-Mortes as offshore. What made the difference was that we managed to stay calm until the end and it paid off. I'm so happy to win this first Med Max, we left home. It was great this start with all these people, the images were incredible."
Those of the finish were magnificent since Achille Nebout waited for the rising sun to finish the race like Primonial, winner in the Ocean Fifty, who had finished at sunset. Photos that will remain in history but which left all the skippers frustrated because they could not see more… All of them jokingly complained about not having enjoyed the beautiful Mediterranean landscape crossing the islands at night…
A last evening that was favorable to Amarris as Gildas Mahé explained. “To be able to take the lead in the race, we had to use a bit of tactics. We knew that the boat was performing well in a sustained reaching. And if we managed to make the difference against our rivals a little earlier, we could widen the gap and we managed to do so.”
“In these conditions, it is truly magical!”, greeted Achille Nebout, whose worst place is a fourth place since he took over this boat. "It was a great race that we had been waiting for a long time and I am very happy to have won the first edition." And already looking to the future. "Now, we will do everything to continue to progress and win other races!" The 34-year-old sailor is also already looking forward to coming back in four years to defend his title in the Med Max.
Mergui could regret a breakage
“As a Mediterranean, we have been waiting for this for a long time. We must not wait too long to do it again”, hoped Mikael Mergui, third on Centrakor with Corentin Douguet. The Marseille skipper regretted not having been able to race to the end with Amarris, due to a broken jib reef. “The race was intense until the finish. It kept changing all the time. At the start, Ambrogio Beccaria had flown away and then it came back. The fleet spread out a bit as we passed. And it's true that when we got a bit left behind, we managed to get back. Then there was the breakage and it was over…", regretted the native of Hyères.
Who was surprised like Nebout and Mahé by the superb performance of the Italians of Tyrolit, Matteo Sericano and Luca Rosetti, second, just 26 minutes behind the winners. “We are happy because every time we have made choices, they have been wise& quot;, underlined the winner of the MiniTransat in 2023.
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