On Thursday 4th October, Achille Nebout and Gildas Mahé (Amarris) crossed the finish line of the MED MAX I Saïdia Resorts in the rising sun. After 4 days 19 hours 22'7 , the pair from Montpellier and Brest inaugurated the podium in this first edition of the Class40 category. In the end, I'd never done any ocean racing in the Mediterranean, smiled Achille Nebout, a native of Montpellier who grew up at the Mauguio-Carnon Yacht Club.  Too happy to have won this first one, starting from home".  With his emotions behind him, the skipper of Amarris reflected on his race. " We had a lot of twists and turns. After Cap Creus, we got on the right train and set off with five of us. In the end, it all came down to last night. We knew that in the south-westerly conditions to cross to Morocco, our boat was faster than the others. It all came down to that. But a lot of things happened up front too. Some good and some not so good. It was complicated with all those Italians"..
These Italians are Ambroggio Beccaria (Alla Grande Pirelli) and Andrea Fornaro (Influence), who were hanging on for a while, but then stalled. The third members of the squadra azzura, Matteo Sericano and Lucas Rosetti, on "Tyrolit" finished deserving runners-up. "We really enjoyed this magnificent race, enthused Matteo Sericano. The race was intense right up to the finish. What we need to do now is not wait too long to do it again..

This view was not denied by the third-placed competitor, Mika Mergui, supported by Corentin Douguet on 'Centrakor', whose hopes of victory were hampered by a number of problems, including a broken halyard. "The MedMax remains a superb race, as we saw from the start with all the people in Port-Camargue and in the bay. Corentin and I had a great time, we made the right choices and we were always in the game. It was the last straw".

The arrivals of the other Class40s are expected to take place over the course of the day, or even tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.

Class40 rankings

1. Amarris (Achille Nebout - Gildas Mahé), arrived on 4th October at 6h22'07 (UT) in 4 days 19 hours 22 mn 7 sec.
2. Tyrolit (Matteo Sericano - Lucas Rosetti) 36'21 behind the leader.
3. Centrakor (Mikael Mergui - Corentin Douguet) 47'54 behind the leader.