Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) finishes seventh

Louis Burton crossed the finish line of the first edition of Retour à La Base in seventh position this Sunday, December 10, at 20:33hrs UTC. The skipper of Bureau Vallée sailed the theoretical 3,500 miles course in an elapsed time of 10 days 4 hours 33 minutes 11 seconds at an average speed of 14.30 knots. Constantly on the attack on this transatlantic Burton took a committed northerly course which was ultimately compromised by damage to his sails which cost him.

Burton, the maverick from Saint Malo who finished third on the last Vendée Globe, was in the top 10 on the climb up to the Atlantic lows and just before the Azores split from the fleet to go further north to find more wind, sail a shorter distance and, hopefully pull back some places.

As he approaches the second gate, his move to the north seems to be paying off and he climbs into fifth position in the rankings. But his Code 0 tack snaps. The skipper of Bureau Vallée lost two precious hours repairing the damage and changing sails. He loses his lead over the duo further south, Damien Seguin (Group APICIL) and Sam Davies (Initiatives Cœur).

Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) seventh:

Arrival time: 20:33:11hrs UTC
Elapsed: 10 days 4 hours 33 min 11 sec
Delta to first:  1d 04h 29min 23s
Delta to sixth: 03h 56min 42s
Sailed 4,343 miles at an actual average speed of 17.76 knots
Average speed on the theoretical route: 14.30 knots