All gathered in the Paul Vatine Basin at Le Havre, 44 monsters of offshore races, representatives of four classes are expected to live a great adventure towards Itajai in Brazil.
This 11th edition that marks the 20th anniversary of the Transat Jacques Vabre is mythical: an international class event, a unique course, an exceptional list of entrants consisting of the most famous names in sailing, old generation sailboats and others benefiting from the latest technological innovations, in brief it will be a great show at sea and ashore and we are finally there, the 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre has started!
One more time, the Class40 is well represented among the fleet of 44 boats tacking part in the Transat Jacques Vabre. There will be 26 of them crossing the start line and sailing on the historical route, link between France and coffee lands.
Impressive victories. The 26 boats entered represent a high level fleet competition of sailing. After a season full of events, one boat makes the different: Mach40 GDF SUEZ skippered by Sébastien Rogues, with 5 victories in a row this season. Victories obviously thanks to a power full boat, which wouldn’t work so well without its talentuous skipper and his team, such as his co-skipper for the transat, Fabien Delahaye, very well known in the ocean racing world. But, they won’t take the victory for granted as other teams also have a chance to finish on the podium. The last winner of the event, Yannick Bestaven, will come back to defend his title on the same boat. This time he will have another champion on board, from another category, Aurélien Ducroz, famous in the freeride skiing. Let’s not forget last year’s Class40 champion, German skipper’s Jörg Riechers, who remains a potential winner. Following a season shared between Imoca, Class40 and Mini 6.50 boat, he will take part of the Jacques Vabre on his Mach40 with Pierre Brasseur, already his co-skipper while winning the Normandy Channel Race last April. Unavoidable couple on board Campagne de France, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron, also have victory in mind. Despite a very good season but without any victory, their long experiences around the world and transat could be the key to win on such long and demanding route. Finally, on board Tyker40 Evolution 3 Dunkerque – Planète Enfants, experimented Bruno Jourdren and 2010 Route du Rhum winner, Thomas Ruyant, have everything in their hands to sail with the other top boat in this edition.
They will also be part of the game. Many outsiders who can surprise us also show how much this edition will be fantastic to follow. Another winner will be in the Class40 fleet. Boat designer Sam Manuard, winner on a Multi 50 on the 2011 edition, will be on board Bet1128 as co-skipper of Italian sailor Gaetano Mura, interesting duet to be watched out especially after having shown what they were able to do on Les Sables-Horta last summer.
Beware of the amateur Catherine Pourre and excellent sailor Goulven Royer on board Eärwen. They created the big surprise of the season, especially on Les Sables-Horta where they finished 2nd overall.
Same for the high level sailors, Victorien Erussard and Thibaut Vauchel-Camus, that will certainly keep the pressure on the other competitors.
Teams Caterham Challenge and ERDF – Des Pieds et Des Mains on their Akilaria RC3, Concise 8 British sailors on the Forty 1 Design, Spanish sailors on a Botin design and Austrian sailors on a new Humphreys design boat, arrive on brand new boats. But everything does not depend on a boat… skippers are also influent on the final results.
With a great performance on the Record SNSM, the Fabrice Amedeo and Armel Tripon have good hopes to be nearby the podium.
Some faithfull teams will also be present: Jean-Edouard Criquioche and Denis Van Weynbergh on Proximedia – Sauvez Mon Enfant as well as Jean-Christophe Caso and Aymeric Chappellier on Groupe Picoty. They could interfere in the expected ranking.
From different horizons. Such as the Class40 Association members, the Transat Jacques Vabre gathers a fleet of international skippers. 9 countries will be represented on this 2013 edition: France (34), United Kingdom (6), Italy (3) with the duet Stefano Raspadori and Pietro D’Ali on Fantastica, Australia (2) with the couple Michelle Zwagerman and Patrick Conway on Croix du Sud, Spain (2) with the team Alex Pella and Pablo Santurde on Tales Santander 2014, Austrian with Christof Petter and Andreas Hanakamp, Germany (1), United States (1) and Belgium (1).
Class40 fleet is the only one with male and female teams (5) like the English speaking duet Hannah Jenner and Rob Windsor on 11TH Hour Racing as well as the Phoenix Europe team Louis Duc and Stéphanie Alran.
The fleet will also gather skippers from different generations, such as April Deltacalor team with a mixture of youth and experience. Tim Darni (19 year old) youngest of the entire fleet will be associated to the experienced Lionel Régnier.
As usual, the Class40 fleet is a harmonious mixture of professional and amateur. Some skippers on Ecoelec, Marie Galante, Matouba, Mr Bricolage and Obportus 3 don’t pretend to be professional sailors.
Unique and demanding route. It’s the first time that the Transat Jacques Vabre race organizers propose such a long and hard race. Competitors will have to sail 5 400 miles to reach Itajaí in Brazil, which represent from 3 weeks to one month at sea for the Class40 yachts. A route with mythical passages but also many difficulties, tactical will be the key to go through. The English Channel exit, Bay of Biscay crossing and of the Azores high pressure system, the doldrums and the Equator and finally sailing along Brazilian coasts will have to be taken seriously.
A big party ashore. It’s important for Le Havre and Itajaí cities to propose to the publican event ashore as unique and as high quality than the transat. Both for the start and the finish, atmosphere will be relaxed, with various activities:
To be seen on the race village in Le Havre:
- October 25, 12:00: deadline for boats to arrive in Le Havre
- October 26: Inauguration of the Transat Jacques Vabre village
- October 26, 19:00: Official presentation of the crew
- October 26 and 27: Exhibition racing, Virtual Regatta
- November 2, 20:00: fireworks
- November 3, 09:00: boats leave
- November 3, 13:02 start of the 11th Transat Jacques Vabre (for monohulls)
The finish in Itajai, Brazil :
- Finish ETA Prediction: 3rd week of November
- Village with traditional music, local cuisine, initiatives of sustainable development, linked with installations directly to the village, and many animations.
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