The basic idea of four courses of different lengths within one race is a good one and has already proved its worth at the 15th Transat Jacques Vabre. Two years ago, the race also culminated in a compact arrival in Fort-de-France on Martinique after a joint start off Le Havre. This benefits sailors, organisers, observers and fans alike.
The basic principle of the Transat Jacques Vabre works like this: The Class 40 fleet remains in the North Atlantic with its 44 boats and has to cover more than 4,500 miles. It also has to pass the island of Sal on the north-eastern edge of Cape Verde, making its "Route du Café" the longest transatlantic regatta for the class.
7,000 nautical mile challenge for the XXL Ultims
The Ocean Fifties and Imocas will make a detour to the South Atlantic, with the Imocas having to pass the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rock Islands, located almost 1,000 kilometres off the north-east coast of Brazil in the Atlantic, and the multihulls having to pass the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, i.e. they will have to head a little further south. There are a good 6,000 nautical miles to cover.
The high-speed Ultims will be sent even further south to the 88 square kilometre tropical island of Ascension between Africa and South America before they are allowed to set course for Martinique. They have around 7,000 nautical miles to cover. In total, a record fleet of 95 boats will take part in the race. The smallest boats make up the largest fleet with 44 Class 40 racers, followed by the Imocas with an impressive 40 starters. Six Ocean Fifty crews and five Ultim giants will ensure fast-paced multihull fun.
Big Caribbean finale on 12 November?
To get everyone safely onto the course, each class has its own starting group. The fastest are allowed to leave the starting boxes first: Ultim title defender "Edmond de Rothschild" and her four rivals "Banque Populaire", "SVR Lazartigue", "Sodebo Ultim 3" and "Actual Ultim 3" open the Transat Jacques Vabre at 1.05 pm. This will be followed by the Ocean Fifties at 13:17 and the Imocas with the three German starters Boris Herrmann ("Malizia - Seaexplorer"), Isabelle Joschke ("Macsf") and Andreas Baden ("Nexans - Art & Fenêtres") at 13:29. Then the Class 40 field with Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink on "Sign for Com" will be sent into the race at 1.41 pm.
Race director Francis Le Goff says: "There will be four winning duos. The aim is for them all to arrive at roughly the same time. That way, everyone - regardless of class - can benefit equally from the same attention and media coverage at the finish line." The target date for the finish is 12 November and therefore a race duration of two weeks. Experts know that it could well take a few days longer if the winds weaken on the Caribbean course.
It is a very demanding sea area" (Boris Herrmann)
The fact that forecasts for a race across the Atlantic can never be made so precisely is also due to the length of the course. The Imocas, for example, have to complete almost a fifth of the Ocean Race route around the world with the cold and stormy start in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, the leap across the pond and the hot, perhaps even calm Caribbean finale. There are many weather and other hurdles to overcome.
"Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper Boris Herrmann knows the race. The Hamburg native finished twelfth at his premiere with co-skipper Will Harris in 2019 after a navigational error. The 42-year-old says of the upcoming challenge in the Transat Jacques Vabre: "The Transat is a mixture of a routine exercise and a big race across the Atlantic, the wild wintery North Atlantic with a start in the Bay of Biscay. Anything can happen. The challenges of sailing through the Channel and around the corner of Brittany are always similar right from the start. It's a very demanding sea area."
We are ready and believe that we can master the classic autumn lows of the race" (Melwin Fink)
The only purely German duo can also expect tough tests. Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are facing their Transat Jacques Vabre premiere on "Sign for Com". "It will be tough, we expect that. But we are also confident. Our boat coped well with 50 knots on the crossing to La Havre. We are ready and believe we can also master the classic autumn lows of the race," says Melwin Fink. As a precaution, his team has provisions for 20 days on board. "But we hope that it will be 15 or 16 days at sea," says Fink.
In the heart of the Bassin de l'Eure in Le Havre, the crews on the 32 metre long and 23 metre wide XXL Ultim giants are also eagerly awaiting the start of the race. Three-time Transat winner and defending champion Charles Caudrelier is also looking forward to the upcoming challenge, which he is tackling this time with the extremely experienced navigator Erwan Israël.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is one of my favourite regattas" (Charles Caudrelier)
Caudrelier's assessment: "The Transat Jacques Vabre is one of my favourite regattas! It's the event where I first got into offshore racing, first in a monohull, then in a multihull, and where I've had some of my best wins. The course and double-handed format allows us to realise the true potential of our machines, which always leads to some hotly contested races."
Caudrelier expects an "unsettled start" and "a rather unsettled to very unsettled race because there is a lot of movement over Europe and the North Atlantic". The Azores High is also not in its usual position, so that areas of low pressure will move across the North Atlantic and push the favourable trade winds back quite far to the south. Just one more challenge for Caudrelier: "That promises an interesting choice of route."
TV and tracking for the Transat Jacques Vabre
NDR will be broadcasting the start on Sunday (29 October) in the original English version in its livestream from 1 pm (ndr.de). The race organisers offer live trackers on their Homepage but also the teams. Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia's tracker accompanied by further information is here to find.
The transatlantic exam - watch the course video here:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
