Portuguese sailor Francisco Lobato illuminated the night with his flares a few seconds after greeting the jury's boat. The Series winner, happy and relieved, was celebrated by his friends gathered on the dock of the marina's yacht club. "It's done!" he exclaimed. And he honoured his predecessor, Charlie Dalin who arrived yesterday afternoon, too late to make up the 22 hour gap in their total elapsed time for the two legs.
"Charlie has done a very good race. I can finally relax." Impressive speed and consistency between The Charente-Maritime and Madeira, the young Portuguese made a more conservative crossing of the Atlantic to Brazil; "The important thing was to get here, regardless of the advance one minute or 20 hours I don't care, I am happy. I really thought about Sam Manuard who had dismasted just before the finish." No risks were taken in this leg of a thousand traps. "I left Funchal tired and not at all in my race, after a week of media madness" he explains. "The passage to the Canaries, with rotating winds in the west almost cost me a lot. I chose to be more conservative in the crossing of the doldrums. I was there 3 days two years ago. I lost miles on Charlie but I did not panic. I focused on my route without minding about the others. And now, my team and I, are rewarded of four years of work. I know that my partner is satisfied and I now I look forward to attack the next Figaro sea! son. "
The racing time of Francisco betwwen Funchal and Bahia is 20 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes and fifteen seconds.
His overall time is 26 days, 19 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds at a speed of 6.65 knots on average.
Before any Jury adjustments, he is ahead of Charlie Dalin by nearly 11 hours.
