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Transat Jacques Vabre 2013
www.transat-jacques-vabre.com - Übersicht
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Friday, November 01, 2013
Time to consider
Originally scheduled for this Sunday, November 3rd at 1302hrs (local time Le Havre), the start of the eleventh edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre may be postponed due to the difficult weather situation which is forecast for what would be the first night at sea for the monohulls. The decision as to when the start will take place will be announced during Saturday late morning 2nd November.
At the skipper’s briefing this morning, the organisers of the Transat Jacques Vabre told the assembled crews that they will delay the final decision until Saturday.
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Foto: Oliver Blanchet
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In fact part of the reason for the uncertainty is that the three index weather models which were presented by Météo France’s Richard Silvani, Arpeggio, GFS and CEP, do not concur on the timing and exact track of the Atlantic low pressure which is due to pass up the Channel. If it tracks close to the channel as some models suggest then winds with be average 35kts, gusting to 50kts but if it tracks further to the north then winds will be a more manageable 20kts.
And so the organisers of this 11th Transat Jacques Vabre have chosen to wait until the next update of the weather models and decide after tonight, and so the start times and dates for the monohulls will be announced Saturday morning as will decisions about the Mulihulls’ prologue and the timing of the starts for the Multi 50’s and MOD70’s.
They said:
Manfred Ramspachers, sports director of the Transat Jacques Vabre: "We will take the time to consider all potential situations. A major depression will pass this weekend and the ideal weather window will be difficult to pinpoint. Our goal is to preserve the fleet at what can be the most sensitive, difficult phase, after the race start. The Transat Jacques Vabre is a test of professionals but also of amateurs who have made their own sacrifices to make the start. We want to see the maximum number of boats reach the finish in Itajaí. We don’t want to see damage to the fleet on the first night."
Sylvie Viant, race director of the Transat Jacques Vabre: "The U.S. weather model gives a more favorable prognosis for the night from Sunday to Monday status. And if that model prevails the the monohulls could leave on Sunday as planned, performing a coastal prologue or heading directly to Itajaí. Otherwise the prologue could be canceled and a start set for the monohulls and perhaps Multi 50 on Monday. The start of the MOD70 could be given Thursday or earlier. In any case, it does not seem reasonable to send off boats upwind in gusts up to 55 knots into shipping traffic and strong currents. Safety and security considerations are the key to our decision."
Village life - Itajaí come to Le Havre
A Brazilian delegation from Itajaí arrived in the Transat Jacques Vabre willage this morning. The Deputy Mayor of Itajai, Dalva Maria Rhenius met Edouard Philippe, the Mayor of Le Havre. A shared desire connects the two mayors and the cities which make the 11th edition of the Transatlantic doubly significant.
Former winners muster to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Transat Jacques Vabre.
Today, all the past champion skippers winners of the event were invited to the village to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the race. Among those who attended were Alain Gautier, Jean-Pierre Dick, Roland Jourdain, Karine Fauconnier, Marc Guillemot, Michel Desjoyeaux, Yves Le Blévec , Erwan Le Roux and others.
A different view
One Transat Jacques Vabre first timer appeared to be taking the build up to his first big ocean race in his stride. But with 25 years of cutting edge experience in Formula 1 motorsport, in Grand Prix paddocks all around the world, Briton Mike Gascoyne, who will race his Class 40 Caterham Challenge alongside the vastly experienced Brian Thompson, appears outwardly unphased by what may be ahead for him.
His previous career as an F1 Technical Director and F1 car designer has given way to his dream to go ocean racing. This initial step may just be the first rung on the ladder. Norfolk based 50 year old Gascoyne admits it may be enough for him to decide ‘never again’. But he is intent on fostering a new, improved level of reliability for short handed ocean racing, and already has been a decisive influence on the success of Alex Thomson who finally ended a string of failures and finished third the Vendée Globe in February.
“It is a really strange feeling.” Gascoyne said today on board his Aquilira RC 3 which was only launched mid August this year, “When I got here on Monday you arrive and see your boat sitting there and think ‘shit here I am actually going racing, I am really doing this. But actually the atmosphere of preparing a car and having it in the paddock ready to go - well I have done this every two weeks for the last 25 years, so the sort of atmosphere you have here is very normal - I feel at home with that, so there is a strange mix of feeling very normal and this being so very different.” “The difference before this is that dropping the car on to the road at one minute to go and then someone else drives it to the first corner, here I am the one driving down to the first corner. I think that at five minutes to go when suddenly everyone is off the boat and there is just Brian and I on our own, that is when the ‘oh shit!’ moment ‘will really hit me.”
His positive influence on the culture and processes in Alex Thomson’s programme is something he would like to see other sailing teams learn from the world of F1 motorsport. Drawing comparisons between F1 20 years ago, likened to IMOCA Open 60 racing now, he considers that the reliability of IMOCA Open 60’s can be significantly improved: “If you look at Formula 1 races 20 years ago there were cars stopping all over the place. At the end of the race there were cars everywhere. The finishing record was 50%. Now you watch a grand prix this weekend, other than the first corner shunts, every car will finish. They are all reliable. That is due to parts management. So it is crack checking, life-ing and so on. When you build the car up each night you know the mileage of every component, you know it has all been serviced, you know everything about it. And so you build the car completely new and you know that it will do 300kms. All the parts have been stress tested and that is what you have to do when you build a boat. The difference is the budget? Yes, but NDT testing can also amount to a couple of your shore crew with Excel spreadsheets. But you have to start when you build the boat, every component that goes on the boat, you record its number, the mileage it did, the wind strength; everything about it and so you build up this picture. And then you are swapping parts out before they break rather than as most of the boats here will do and run things until they break and then will put the same part on and run it until it breaks again. And they don’t also know when it breaks how much it has done anyway. You never get on top of it. So you need to start when you design the boat with a complete bill of materials, put down the torque settings as controlled, everything signed off. That is just rigorous procedures. It does not cost much.”
2011 title Defenders
Monohull 60':
Virbac-Paprec
Jean-Pierre DICK & Jérémie BEYOU
15days 18h 15min 54sec
Multihull 50':
Actual
Yves LE BLEVEC & Samuel MANUARD
17days 17h 7min 43sec
Class 40':
Aquarelle.com
Yannick BESTAVEN
& Éric DROUGLAZET
21days 17h 59min 8sec
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