Transat Jacques Vabre, 08.11.2017
08 Nov 2017 ● D+3

Sharp extends lead as Merron heads home
The Anglo-Spanish duo, Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde (Imerys Clean Energy) extended their lead at the front of the 40ft monohull fleet, as Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron (Campagne de France) were limping back to Cherbourg, their home port, nursing a broken port rudder. They are expected back at midday tomorrow (Thursday).

Such has been the pace, complication and fatigue after 72 hours at sea since the start from Le Havre on Sunday, that Sharp admitted that he fell asleep at the helm today (Wednesday) -“that’s when I realised it might be a good idea to change with Pablo,” Sharp said. “I think we’re getting 3-4 hours in 24 hours.”

“It’s been difficult because it’s been really unstable, so it’s hard to keep the boat flat the whole time. I woke up a couple of times in the night with the boat over and my bunk nearly vertical. It’s quite alarming. The second time I came back to find the sleeping bag had unfortunately gone in a big pool of water in the boat – that was not good.

Sharp took back the lead last night then stretched 20 miles ahead of his nearest French rival – Aïna Enfance & Avenir – with five French boats all within 40 miles behind. Despite the fatigue and hot-bunking one wet sleeping bag between them, he and Santurde were able appreciate the result of their efforts.

“The conditions we had yesterday were insane, pushing the boat like that pretty much the whole day at speeds on the limit was quite an experience. We’ve been pushing really hard and when we realised we’d taken a big advantage it was hugely positive for us and we’ve been really spurred on to try keep extending.”

The bad news is that the antenna on their main satellite system failed this morning so they have not been able to download weather files. With no outside assistance allowed, that will be complicated as both the Class40 and the back of the larger Imoca 60ft monohull fleet will have to cope with squalls, gusting up to 30 knots and big seas in the open seas off Portugal as they head to the Azores.

For the two Ultime-class trimarans at the front, it looks like being a much easier giant slalom on port tack all the way to the Doldrums. The Multi 50 and the leading Imocas have a few more bumps in the road, with a cross sea and they need to be accurate with the route and avoid the effects of the active depression around the Canaries.

Whilst you are sleeping, spare a thought for Lionel Lemonchois and Bernard Stamm, Prince de Bretagne, the smaller Ultime, who will make their pit-stop to fix the broken mainsail halyard tonight in the shelter of the island of Santa Maria in the Canaries. “We should get there between midnight and one o’clock in the morning (French time),” Swiss co-skipper Stamm said. “We have to get up the mast and put everything right in less than two hours. We will see if we can get everything down or not.”

Speaking about the damage sustained crossing the cold front that battered the fleet yesterday and that has knocked them out of the running and maybe out of the race, Merron said both she and Mabire are uninjured but feeling low.

“Other than being absolutely gutted, we’re fine,” Britain’s Merron said. “We’d positioned ourselves in relation to the rest of the fleet where we wanted to be (and were lying in fifth place), we had good downwind conditions, we had the fractional spinnaker and two reefs in the main and the boat was flying. Then the boat wiped out, it took us a while to get it upright, whereas normally its straight away, then we realised the port rudder (bracket) had broken and then the boat obviously wiped out again pretty much immediately.

“We don’t know whether we wiped out because of the rudder or if the wipeout caused the boat to break. Then, we couldn’t get the boat upright because the rudder was swinging around wildly. Then the spinnaker blew up. So, it took a while to sort that out, because it was in several pieces and didn’t want to come down. We got that down eventually and managed to detach the rudder before it made a mess of the back of the boat.

The damage has forced Merron and Mabire, partners on land as well at sea, back to France rather than heading to Spain, which would have required a starboard tack.

“We can only sail on port tack, as we’ve only got the starboard rudder at the moment,” Merron said. “We looked at our options and decided to go Cherbourg because the conditions were favourable for getting there on port tack and at least we’ll be in a home port and we can have a look to see whether we can repair it quickly and leave again.”

They said:

Samantha Davies, co-skipper, Initiatives-Cœur (Imoca)

“It’s Rock’n’roll here, downwind in an unstable wind, with friends not far away (Multi 50 and IMOCA). At the moment, we’ve making almost 30 knots and we have all the canvas out, so we’re being vigilant and changing watch often so as not to be tired outside. But we’re slamming less so we can sleep a little better and the trackball is staying in the same place. We’re still in dry suits, but it’s a little less humid. Well, we just switched over, Tanguy is outside, I’m going to sleep a little … good night!

Sam

P.S. our thoughts are with Miranda and Halvard; I hope they manage to find shelter without too much difficulty.”

Bernard Stamm, co-skipper, Maxi 80 Prince de Bretagne (Ultime)

“A little message, to say that we’re advancing as well as we can with our two reefs in the mainsail and the solent. The gennaker is staying in his bag because the halyard is occupied by the mainsail. And hey, we should not be with them, but we we’ve in sight of Saint-Michel Virbac. It was nice to see them anyway and Jean-Pierre (Dick) called us for a little bit of chat.”

Point café

Date : 08/11/17 – 16h06

Class40
1 – Imerys Clean Energy
2 – Aïna Enfance & Avenir
3 – TeamWork40

Multi50
1 – FenêtréA – Mix Buffet
2 – Arkema
3 – Réauté Chocolat

Imoca
1 – St Michel – Virbac
2 – „DES VOILES ET VOUS!“
3 – SMA

Ultim
1 – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
2 – Sodebo Ultim‘
3 – Prince de Bretagne

=

08 Nov 2017 ● D+3

Sharp extends lead as Merron heads home
The Anglo-Spanish duo, Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde (Imerys Clean Energy) extended their lead at the front of the 40ft monohull fleet, as Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron (Campagne de France) were limping back to Cherbourg, their home port, nursing a broken port rudder. They are expected back at midday tomorrow (Thursday).

Such has been the pace, complication and fatigue after 72 hours at sea since the start from Le Havre on Sunday, that Sharp admitted that he fell asleep at the helm today (Wednesday) -“that’s when I realised it might be a good idea to change with Pablo,” Sharp said. “I think we’re getting 3-4 hours in 24 hours.”

“It’s been difficult because it’s been really unstable, so it’s hard to keep the boat flat the whole time. I woke up a couple of times in the night with the boat over and my bunk nearly vertical. It’s quite alarming. The second time I came back to find the sleeping bag had unfortunately gone in a big pool of water in the boat – that was not good.

Sharp took back the lead last night then stretched 20 miles ahead of his nearest French rival – Aïna Enfance & Avenir – with five French boats all within 40 miles behind. Despite the fatigue and hot-bunking one wet sleeping bag between them, he and Santurde were able appreciate the result of their efforts.

“The conditions we had yesterday were insane, pushing the boat like that pretty much the whole day at speeds on the limit was quite an experience. We’ve been pushing really hard and when we realised we’d taken a big advantage it was hugely positive for us and we’ve been really spurred on to try keep extending.”

The bad news is that the antenna on their main satellite system failed this morning so they have not been able to download weather files. With no outside assistance allowed, that will be complicated as both the Class40 and the back of the larger Imoca 60ft monohull fleet will have to cope with squalls, gusting up to 30 knots and big seas in the open seas off Portugal as they head to the Azores.

For the two Ultime-class trimarans at the front, it looks like being a much easier giant slalom on port tack all the way to the Doldrums. The Multi 50 and the leading Imocas have a few more bumps in the road, with a cross sea and they need to be accurate with the route and avoid the effects of the active depression around the Canaries.

Whilst you are sleeping, spare a thought for Lionel Lemonchois and Bernard Stamm, Prince de Bretagne, the smaller Ultime, who will make their pit-stop to fix the broken mainsail halyard tonight in the shelter of the island of Santa Maria in the Canaries. “We should get there between midnight and one o’clock in the morning (French time),” Swiss co-skipper Stamm said. “We have to get up the mast and put everything right in less than two hours. We will see if we can get everything down or not.”

Speaking about the damage sustained crossing the cold front that battered the fleet yesterday and that has knocked them out of the running and maybe out of the race, Merron said both she and Mabire are uninjured but feeling low.

“Other than being absolutely gutted, we’re fine,” Britain’s Merron said. “We’d positioned ourselves in relation to the rest of the fleet where we wanted to be (and were lying in fifth place), we had good downwind conditions, we had the fractional spinnaker and two reefs in the main and the boat was flying. Then the boat wiped out, it took us a while to get it upright, whereas normally its straight away, then we realised the port rudder (bracket) had broken and then the boat obviously wiped out again pretty much immediately.

“We don’t know whether we wiped out because of the rudder or if the wipeout caused the boat to break. Then, we couldn’t get the boat upright because the rudder was swinging around wildly. Then the spinnaker blew up. So, it took a while to sort that out, because it was in several pieces and didn’t want to come down. We got that down eventually and managed to detach the rudder before it made a mess of the back of the boat.

The damage has forced Merron and Mabire, partners on land as well at sea, back to France rather than heading to Spain, which would have required a starboard tack.

“We can only sail on port tack, as we’ve only got the starboard rudder at the moment,” Merron said. “We looked at our options and decided to go Cherbourg because the conditions were favourable for getting there on port tack and at least we’ll be in a home port and we can have a look to see whether we can repair it quickly and leave again.”

They said:

Samantha Davies, co-skipper, Initiatives-Cœur (Imoca)

“It’s Rock’n’roll here, downwind in an unstable wind, with friends not far away (Multi 50 and IMOCA). At the moment, we’ve making almost 30 knots and we have all the canvas out, so we’re being vigilant and changing watch often so as not to be tired outside. But we’re slamming less so we can sleep a little better and the trackball is staying in the same place. We’re still in dry suits, but it’s a little less humid. Well, we just switched over, Tanguy is outside, I’m going to sleep a little … good night!

Sam

P.S. our thoughts are with Miranda and Halvard; I hope they manage to find shelter without too much difficulty.”

Bernard Stamm, co-skipper, Maxi 80 Prince de Bretagne (Ultime)

“A little message, to say that we’re advancing as well as we can with our two reefs in the mainsail and the solent. The gennaker is staying in his bag because the halyard is occupied by the mainsail. And hey, we should not be with them, but we we’ve in sight of Saint-Michel Virbac. It was nice to see them anyway and Jean-Pierre (Dick) called us for a little bit of chat.”

Point café

Date : 08/11/17 – 16h06

Class40
1 – Imerys Clean Energy
2 – Aïna Enfance & Avenir
3 – TeamWork40

Multi50
1 – FenêtréA – Mix Buffet
2 – Arkema
3 – Réauté Chocolat

Imoca
1 – St Michel – Virbac
2 – „DES VOILES ET VOUS!“
3 – SMA

Ultim
1 – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
2 – Sodebo Ultim‘
3 – Prince de Bretagne

=

08 Nov 2017 ● D+3

Sharp extends lead as Merron heads home
The Anglo-Spanish duo, Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde (Imerys Clean Energy) extended their lead at the front of the 40ft monohull fleet, as Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron (Campagne de France) were limping back to Cherbourg, their home port, nursing a broken port rudder. They are expected back at midday tomorrow (Thursday).

Such has been the pace, complication and fatigue after 72 hours at sea since the start from Le Havre on Sunday, that Sharp admitted that he fell asleep at the helm today (Wednesday) -“that’s when I realised it might be a good idea to change with Pablo,” Sharp said. “I think we’re getting 3-4 hours in 24 hours.”

“It’s been difficult because it’s been really unstable, so it’s hard to keep the boat flat the whole time. I woke up a couple of times in the night with the boat over and my bunk nearly vertical. It’s quite alarming. The second time I came back to find the sleeping bag had unfortunately gone in a big pool of water in the boat – that was not good.

Sharp took back the lead last night then stretched 20 miles ahead of his nearest French rival – Aïna Enfance & Avenir – with five French boats all within 40 miles behind. Despite the fatigue and hot-bunking one wet sleeping bag between them, he and Santurde were able appreciate the result of their efforts.

“The conditions we had yesterday were insane, pushing the boat like that pretty much the whole day at speeds on the limit was quite an experience. We’ve been pushing really hard and when we realised we’d taken a big advantage it was hugely positive for us and we’ve been really spurred on to try keep extending.”

The bad news is that the antenna on their main satellite system failed this morning so they have not been able to download weather files. With no outside assistance allowed, that will be complicated as both the Class40 and the back of the larger Imoca 60ft monohull fleet will have to cope with squalls, gusting up to 30 knots and big seas in the open seas off Portugal as they head to the Azores.

For the two Ultime-class trimarans at the front, it looks like being a much easier giant slalom on port tack all the way to the Doldrums. The Multi 50 and the leading Imocas have a few more bumps in the road, with a cross sea and they need to be accurate with the route and avoid the effects of the active depression around the Canaries.

Whilst you are sleeping, spare a thought for Lionel Lemonchois and Bernard Stamm, Prince de Bretagne, the smaller Ultime, who will make their pit-stop to fix the broken mainsail halyard tonight in the shelter of the island of Santa Maria in the Canaries. “We should get there between midnight and one o’clock in the morning (French time),” Swiss co-skipper Stamm said. “We have to get up the mast and put everything right in less than two hours. We will see if we can get everything down or not.”

Speaking about the damage sustained crossing the cold front that battered the fleet yesterday and that has knocked them out of the running and maybe out of the race, Merron said both she and Mabire are uninjured but feeling low.

“Other than being absolutely gutted, we’re fine,” Britain’s Merron said. “We’d positioned ourselves in relation to the rest of the fleet where we wanted to be (and were lying in fifth place), we had good downwind conditions, we had the fractional spinnaker and two reefs in the main and the boat was flying. Then the boat wiped out, it took us a while to get it upright, whereas normally its straight away, then we realised the port rudder (bracket) had broken and then the boat obviously wiped out again pretty much immediately.

“We don’t know whether we wiped out because of the rudder or if the wipeout caused the boat to break. Then, we couldn’t get the boat upright because the rudder was swinging around wildly. Then the spinnaker blew up. So, it took a while to sort that out, because it was in several pieces and didn’t want to come down. We got that down eventually and managed to detach the rudder before it made a mess of the back of the boat.

The damage has forced Merron and Mabire, partners on land as well at sea, back to France rather than heading to Spain, which would have required a starboard tack.

“We can only sail on port tack, as we’ve only got the starboard rudder at the moment,” Merron said. “We looked at our options and decided to go Cherbourg because the conditions were favourable for getting there on port tack and at least we’ll be in a home port and we can have a look to see whether we can repair it quickly and leave again.”

They said:

Samantha Davies, co-skipper, Initiatives-Cœur (Imoca)

“It’s Rock’n’roll here, downwind in an unstable wind, with friends not far away (Multi 50 and IMOCA). At the moment, we’ve making almost 30 knots and we have all the canvas out, so we’re being vigilant and changing watch often so as not to be tired outside. But we’re slamming less so we can sleep a little better and the trackball is staying in the same place. We’re still in dry suits, but it’s a little less humid. Well, we just switched over, Tanguy is outside, I’m going to sleep a little … good night!

Sam

P.S. our thoughts are with Miranda and Halvard; I hope they manage to find shelter without too much difficulty.”

Bernard Stamm, co-skipper, Maxi 80 Prince de Bretagne (Ultime)

“A little message, to say that we’re advancing as well as we can with our two reefs in the mainsail and the solent. The gennaker is staying in his bag because the halyard is occupied by the mainsail. And hey, we should not be with them, but we we’ve in sight of Saint-Michel Virbac. It was nice to see them anyway and Jean-Pierre (Dick) called us for a little bit of chat.”

Point café

Date : 08/11/17 – 16h06

Class40
1 – Imerys Clean Energy
2 – Aïna Enfance & Avenir
3 – TeamWork40

Multi50
1 – FenêtréA – Mix Buffet
2 – Arkema
3 – Réauté Chocolat

Imoca
1 – St Michel – Virbac
2 – „DES VOILES ET VOUS!“
3 – SMA

Ultim
1 – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
2 – Sodebo Ultim‘
3 – Prince de Bretagne

=

Transat Jacques Vabre, 05.11.2017

Sharp start to Transat Jacques Vabre
A sleepless night ahead
Phil Sharp wins Class40 start and gets his jamon

Sam Davies shows international camaraderie of the fleet

Map and ranking

Phil Sharp wins Class40 start and gets his jamon

Sam Davies shows international camaraderie of the fleet

Map and ranking

illustration start, Class 40 Imerys Clean Energy, skippers Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde, during start of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2017, duo sailing race from Le Havre (FRA) to Salvador de Bahia (BRA) in Le Havre on November 5th, 2017 – Photo Jean-Marie Liot / ALeA / TJV17

A pumped up Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde (Imerys Clean Energy) – the Anglo-Spanish pair – were first across the line in the Class40 as the 13th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2017 started at 13:35 (French time) from its home in Le Havre, in Normandy, France today (Sunday). Beautiful light but lively weather greeted the fleet of 37 boats and 74 crew.

With 15-18 knots of north-westerly winds, a choppy shallow sea and plenty of current against them, they negotiated 15 miles of coast to round the first marks at Antifer and Étretat. It will be a highly technical and tactical starting phase, with lots of sail changes and no sleep tonight.

The Ultime should be passing Ushant around midnight, followed by the Multi 50 in the middle of the night. The Imoca and Class40 are likely to suffer most in a softening wind against the strong currents at the tip of Cotentin, and the gaps with the multihulls will already start to widen.

It may be a marathon not a sprint, but Sharp, the leader of the Class40 championship, was raring to go as the boats had their tremendous send-off from the pontoon. “(I’m feeling) anticipation and hunger to get out there,” the 36-year-old Sharp said. “I feel the pressure of it (being one of the favourites). I’m hoping for 17 days, I’m aiming high.”

All four classes are looking at record times for this bi-annual double-handed transatlantic “Route du Café” race of 4,350 miles to Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil.

With every kilo counting, Britain’s Sam Davies said they had taken two days of food off Initiatives-Cœur. Some benefitted from this: “We got our ham,” were virtually Sharp’s final words as he pushed off. “Alex Pella (the Spanish sailor on the Multi 50 Arkema) had an excess of jamon so he gave us some. We decided we would take the same amount of food but just eat more every day, the worst thing you can do is run out of food.”

That international camaraderie of the fleet was extended by Davies, who wished good luck to the many offshore racers and record breakers in the Atlantic this weekend, which includes a larger number of former Transat Jacques Vabre competitors.

“First to all the fleet in the Transat Jacques Vabre good luck and I hope to see you all in Salvador,” Davies said. “But we’re not the only ones out in the Atlantic: to the Dongfeng race team on the Volvo Ocean race you too are about to set off on a massive leg to Cape Town, thanks for your encouragement, and the same back to you, to Charles (Caudrelier), a winner of the of the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2009), Carolijn (Brouwer) and yes Caroline, Foxy is going to be onboard Initiatives-Cœur don’t worry! Good luck to the whole fleet and especially all the girls from Team SCA.

“A massive good luck and bon vent to Yves Le Blevec (a winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2011) on Actual Ultim, a boat that I know well, from having done the Bridge with you this year. And François Gabart (a winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2015), who is also setting off on Macif on a record this weekend – sail safe and sail fast. And we mustn’t forget the mini-Transat because you guys have been out there for one week already. What a great weekend for sailing.”

First across the start line

Ultim: Sodebo Ultim’

Multi 50: FenêtréA – Mix Buffet

Imoca: St Michel – Virbac

Class40: Imerys Clean Energy

They said:

Seb Josse, skipper, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Ultime)

“It promises to be a fast crossing, but ETAs are not our priority. We’ll encounter conditions we’ve never had with this boat. Our goal is to get to Bahia, as best we can, and especially lay low for the first two days. You feel the stress of the start as soon as you are passing through the lock; there’s only one metre on each side of the boat, you have to be really focused and you have a knot in your stomach. So, the whole team will do everything to try to avoid all the hazards.”

Alex Pella, skipper, co-skiper, Arkema (Multi 50)

“We’ve had a fantastic week in Le Havre, sunny days and the now we have dark skies, perfect for the start. We’re looking at 12 days (to finish) maybe, it looks like being a fast race. We had 14 days of food and we’re leaving 2 days of it on the dock. The first two days could be intense. First thing, there’s the emotions, the stress, we’re sailing close to the other boats, lot of traffic on the Channel, we have a lot of current against us in the beginning, it’s windy, everything, no? Then we need to cross an area with no wind after the point of Brittany and after that the front. But that’s what we came for (laughing).”

Erwan Le Roux, skipper, FenêtréA – Mix Buffet (Multi50)

“Three victories in the Transat Jacques Vabre changes nothing, we always have this little knot in our stomachs that grows when we leave the pontoon and disappears little by little when we sail, because that’s what we know how to do. Everything is good, but a grain of sand can stall a machine. You have to stay focused and then think about sleeping, and resting before the front. This is the key to thinking clearly and staying alert.”

Phil Sharp, skipper, Imerys Clean Energy (Class40)

“The second night is going to be very windy, the front is going to be brutal and so are the waves. We’re going to be going straight into some really nasty swell and then after we tack we’ve just got a monumental amount of wind that is going to come down from the north. We really need to anticipate when we get that change and be ready for it.”

26.11.2017
And then there were two
The arrival of the Class40 Gras Savoye Berger Simon Obportus this morning in tenth position, left only two duos still racing. The Brazilians on Mussulo 40 Team Angola Cables have 180 miles before arriving home tomorrow morning. Two skippers have a hero’s welcome waiting for them.
The 56-year-old José Guilherme Caldas and the 32-year-old Leonardo Chicourel are one of the amateur duos in the race. A leading professor of neuroradiology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Caldas, 56, has been a resident in Brazil for 30 years, but was born in Luanda, Angola, and is the first ever Angolan to compete in the Transat Jacques Vabre.

The duo had to manage an early setback after Mussulo 40 Team Angola Cables, diverted to Camaret-sur-Mer in Brittany 36 hours after the start, and spent 24 hours fixing their electronic problems.

Esprit Scout have just come out of the Doldrums and with more than 1,200 miles to got to Salvador de Bahia. The official routing suggests Marc Dubos and Jacques-Arnaud Seyrig should be able to taste the pleasures of Bahia on Thursday, December 1 in the late afternoon (local time/18:00 UTC), but if they want their time officially recognised they can afford no slips. The finish line will be closed on closes on December 2 at 23:19:15 UTC.

ETAs:

Monday, November 27

Mussulo 40 Team Angola Cables 10:00 UTC

Friday, December 1

Esprit Scout 18:00

Arrivals

Sunday, November 26

Eighth Sylvain Pontu and Christophe Rateau on Gustave Roussy (contre vents et cancers) at 21:55:46 (UTC)

Race time: 20 days, 09 hours 20 minutes and 46 seconds

Ninth Catherine Pourre and Benoit Hochart on Eärendil at 05:16:18

Race time: 20 days, 16 hours 41 minutes and 18 seconds

Tenth Olivier Roussey and Philippe Burger on Gras Savoye Berger Simon Obportus at 10:08:52

Race time: 20 days, 16 hours 41 minutes and 18 seconds