Transat Jacques Vabre 2013

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Friday, December 06, 2013
Australian Couple Complete Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race in 21st place

As committed amateurs, Patrick is an international project manager who is a long time Sydney sailor whilst Michelle, and IT consultant, the husband and wife team took a two years sabbatical and spent the best part of the first year training and learning their boat. The Transat Jacques Vabre was the pinnacle of their dream. They set off with the index objectives of finishing the race, together and not being last. In the early stages they were 17th to 19th, but when the conditions became harder, they were content to consolidate and sail more safely to ensure they reached the finish of the race.

Foto: J.M. Liot

They ensured that, by and large, their problems were relatively small. Early on they had a problem with their hydrogenerator and latterly they wrapped their key spinnaker tight around the forestay.

The last three days were some of the more testing with light winds mixed with some big squalls, but they took them in their stride and looked delighted when they appeared out of the dark this evening.

They said:
Michelle Zwagerman, AUS, co-skipper Croix du Sud: “We are relieved. But I can’t believe we have done it. But we are very sad too, this is the end of the journey.
“It started in April last year and back then it always seemed an impossible thing to achieve, 30 days racing, how can we do that? But we have done it step by step. You break it down into little bits and do it. The first objective was to arrive, and to arrive together. And it has been a really good journey together.”

Patrick Conway, AUS, co-skipper Croix du Sud: “We have had a lot ‘us’ time. It has been a really good journey. It has maybe made us go a little bit slower, but we took time to be together and talk. We got a little bit more tired than we should have. But it was a lot of fun. Today when we hit some big squalls and the boat is getting hammered, Michelle turned around and said: “Shall I put the kettle on?” That was in the third thunderstorm and I thought the gods were trying to tell us something... Ecolec are still out there and have a hard slog. We were trying to catch Obportus but they were just a little bit too quick for us. They passed us just off the coast of Brazil and have been a bit quick.

Patrick: “The third thing for us was to not break the boat. We had a lot of chafe. We lost a couple of small things. We lost the tack out of the spinnaker and wrapped it around the forestay.”
Michelle: “But we did really well with indextaining the boat, but then towards the end you are getting so tired and then you make mistakes and that was what breaks things.”
Patrick: “ We saw two whales surfing waves right beside us. There was a bounce as they brushed off the boat, they were much bigger than the boat. That was exciting. But other small things, like the other night there was a sunset which was just incredible, layer upon layer of cloud and a sky and a really hard wind on the water.”

Michelle: “When we were approaching the Doldrums the first thunderstorm went to the left of us and I thought great, then the second went to the right and I thought great, but then the next one got us. Seeing the Southern Cross for the first time on the race was a big moment for us. We did not say very much. Crossing the equator was a very special time, very emotional. We did not talk much. All of a sudden things are back on the ‘right’ side for us, the sun is the right place and you feel like you are coming home. For us like ‘we have done our thing now, maybe we should go home’”

Patrick: “The journey has been really good for us. I think there are so many groups of people who are in here, and we are proud to be Aussies and to have finished, but you look at the people who are here and we are quite humbled actually. To just be here, we are honoured. We are just amateurs so to participate in the same race as some of these people is very special.”

Michelle: “No more ocean crossings for me. It is back to Sydney Harbour for me. It is back to skiffs on Sydney Harbour for me.”
Patrick: “Two up is quite a lot of pressure. What I would like to see is more people follow us, to see more people take the time out to do this kind of thing, to meet the challenge. It is an adventure and it is not just for professionals. The first time you win is when you make the start line, the planning the working together, you just get it done. If more couples came and did this it would be really good.”

Video footage: Arrival of Croix Du Sud: http://seaevents.tv/directPlayer.php?ids=52a087b9117bd&idv=007100&idu=5189eaa288f5c

Quotes:
Michelle Zwagerman and Patrick Conway (AUS): http://www.transat-jacques-vabre.com/sites/default/files/audio/son/michellezwagerman_patrickconway_croixdusud_20131206.mp3

See latest postions for the fleets: http://www.transat-jacques-vabre.com/fr/classement

Live tracking updated every 30 minutes. Race Tracker URL: http://tracking.transat-jacques-vabre.com/en/ Positions will be updated every 3 hours: 0400hrs / 0700hrs / 1000hrs / 1300hrs / 1600hrs / 1900hrs GMT