© © Pierre Bouras / Retour à La Base

Romain Attanasio finished the first edition of the Retour à La Base race in tenth place. The skipper on Fortinet – Best Western crossed the finish line in Lorient at 1320hrs UTC on Monday 11th December after ten days, 21 hours, 20 minutes and 4 seconds of racing, averaging 13.38 knots on the Great Circle route. The skipper therefore made it into the highly competitive top ten, finishing 1 day 21 hours and 16 minutes after the winner, Yoann Richomme. Out on the water, he actually sailed 4404.11 miles averaging 16.85 knots. Having suffered a bad knock to the head last night, Attanasio will immediately go for some further medical tests. 

Romain Attanasio clearly enjoyed himself throughout this big adventure with two transatlantic races coming one after the other. In Martinique, when he finished, he was laughing as so pleased with his Transat Jacques Vabre accompanied by Loïs Berrehar, which he described as a “highly instructive” crossing, with the certitude that he would be able “to make the most of the experience acquired in future races”. He has done just that, as after just a few days rest and a few jogging exercises, he set off again in the same mindset to tackle the Atlantic once again, but this time sailing solo. 

However, from the start of the Retour à La Base, he had a number of problems to deal with. He injured his arm, making work tricky, and because of connection problems, he was unable to discover the position of his rivals. After that, it was a matter of resilience with peak speeds in excess of thirty knots, meaning it was impossible to make any coffee or to move around the boat, which “was an impossible task given the movements of the boat. It’s fine, as all is well, but we are really slamming.” 

During the crossing, he had to avoid cargo vessels and areas of calm, which were stressful, and he sometimes found it “hard to get in the right gear.” Finally, there was a tight contest with Isabelle Joschke (MACSF). On the dawn before finishing, Romain suffered from a knock to the head, when he was thrown into a bulkhead. In direct contact with the Race Doctor, he was able to continue his voyage, but will now have to go for medical tests. Attanasio finished the race in tenth place, remaining consistent, as he was tenth in the Route du Rhum, 10th in the Rolex Fastnet Race and 9th in the Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération.  

His race in numbers

Finish: 11/12/2023 13:20:04 UTC
Race time: 10d 21hrs 20mins 04s
Delta to the winner: 1d 21hrs 16mins 16s
Delta to the 9th skipper: 4hrs 7mins 41s
On the Great Circle route: 3497.42 nm / 13.38 kts
Out on the water: 4404.11 nm / 16.85 kts