Transat Jacques Vabre: Mettraux, Davies, Crémer - Imoca women put the pressure on
Tatjana Pokorny
· 09.11.2023
The Imoca mixed teams set a strong tone in the opening phase of the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre. With Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion on "Teamwork.net", Samantha Davies and Jack Bouttell on "Initiatives Cœur" and Clarisse Crémer and Alan Roberts on "L'Occitane en Provence", three strong mixed teams were in the top ten on Thursday morning, two days after the start. The mixed duos put pressure on the leading trio in 4th, 5th and 8th place at midday on 9th November.
Can there be a successor to Ellen MacArthur on the Imoca podium?
So far, only one woman has made it onto the podium in the 30-year history of the Transat: Ellen MacArthur. In 2005, the Brit sailed with Roland Jourdain on "Sill et Violia" to second place in the Imoca classification behind the then winners Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron. The current challenge is a big one for the skippers, as the three pre-start favourites are travelling fast.
On the other hand, "Juju" Mettraux, Sam Davies and Clarisse Crémer can always hold their own in the power play. New attacking opportunities for the chasing pack could arise in lulls on the Azores course.
Davies and Mettraux on course for the Vendée Globe
Among the three top performers are two who already have their Vendée Globe qualification for 2024 in the bag: Sam Davies, because she has one of the new 2022 boats with her "Initiatives Cœur", which, like Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer", Paul Meilhat's "Biotherm", Yannick Bestaven's "Maître Coq", Jérémie Beyou's "Charal" and Maxime Sorel's "V and B - Monbana - Mayenne", is automatically qualified for the Vendée Globe.
Justine Mettraux is one of a fleet of Imoca soloists who have already clocked up an extremely high number of qualifying miles, including in the Ocean Race. Before the start of the Transat, the Swiss was in 13th place in the qualifying list for the Vendée Globe and - like Thomas Ruyant (18th) - does not have to worry about her Vendée Globe premiere.
Clarisse Crémer fights for her Vendée Globe qualification
Clarisse Crémer had hit the headlines before the restart with the "L'Occitane en Provence" campaign because the Banque Populaire sailing racing team no longer wanted to back the young mother's shaky starting chance, who was missing out on qualifying miles due to her pregnancy. Clarisse Crémer found a new project home with Alex Thomson and is now sailing for an international cosmetics company for her Vendée Globe starting chance.
On the Imoca qualification list for the Vendée Globe, Clarisse Crémer is only in 42nd place in a Vendée Globe starting field limited to 40 boats and has only clocked up 642 nautical miles with "L'Occitane en Provence". The Frenchwoman now has two chances to catapult herself into the Vendée Globe field: She either collects more miles than one or one of the skippers in qualifying places 7 to 39. Japan's Kojiro Shiraishi, for example, was 39th on the Vendée Globe candidate list with 3285 nautical miles in his qualifying account up to the start of the Transat.
Many qualifying miles for the Vendée Globe await in the Transat and the return race
However, Clarisse Crémer could also receive the wild card awarded by the organisers for the 40th and final Vendée Globe starting place. YACHT editor Andreas Fritsch told Clarisse Crémer at the meeting before the Transat start in Le Havre that although she wanted to approach the race carefully so as not to risk a break and above all to be able to compete in the return race Retour à la Base to collect miles, overall she was no longer too worried about her Vendée Globe participation.
To understand the Vendée Globe qualification mode: Including the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021, there were and are twelve Imoca regattas in which the Vendée Globe candidates can collect miles. In the current 16th double-handed race Transat Jacques Vabre, skippers can collect around half of the actual nautical miles for their qualification account with 2700. If they pass the Retour à la Base solo return race, they can even earn an additional 3463 nautical miles. This is why the return race is so important for many Vendée Globe aspirants.
The final starting field for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025 will not be finalised until summer 2024
The final opportunities to collect miles will then come in 2024 with the Transat CIC in April (3000 nautical miles) and the New York Vendée - Les Sables d'Olonne (3200 nautical miles) in May. After that, the 39 starters for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025 will have been mathematically determined and a decision will also be made on the allocation of the wild card for 40th place.
Clarisse Crémer in 42nd place had prominent company in waiting places 41 to 45 before the Transat start: in 41st place was "Paprec Arkéa" helmsman Yoann Richomme with 1384 nautical miles collected, in 43rd place Violetta Dorange with 294 nautical miles. Jean Le Cam (44th) and Phil Sharp (45th) have not yet been able to collect any qualifying miles. We can expect to see some changes to the Vendée Globe qualification list in the current Transat Jacques Vabre and in the return regatta in view of the expected cancellations on the one hand and strong performances on the other.
Autopilot problems on "Malizia - Seaexplorer" under control
Boris Herrmann, meanwhile, has his qualification safely in the bag. The compass and autopilot problem that threw the crew on "Malizia - Seaexplorer" back to twelfth place the day after the start was also resolved for the time being on Thursday. Boris Herrmann reported on Thursday morning: "We're fine and we're taking it in turns to rest. So far the problems have all been resolved. We are catching up on sleep after our technical problems and are stepping on the gas as much as we can to move up again. We are currently in eleventh place and are continuing to catch up."
While on the Imoca front, the black "Charal" with Jérémie Beyou and Franck Cammas was racing away two days after the start, the co-favoured crews on "Paprec Arkéa" and "For People" were struggling to catch up with the front runner 30 and 50 nautical miles behind her. Less happy news came from other teams: Vendée Globe winner Yannick Bestaven and Julien Pulvé are heading to Vigo for repairs with a tear in their mainsail.
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink advance further
The Imoca duo Paul Meilhat and Mariana Lobato want to solve a similar problem on "Biotherm" in Brest. Isabelle Joschke and Pierre Brasseur are back in Lorient - also with mainsail problems. Team Canada Ocean Racing has almost reached the harbour of Gosport with an unspecified "medical problem" on board.
In Class 40, meanwhile, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are stepping on the gas on "Sign for Com". The young professionals were in 16th place at midday on 9 November and are still on the attack. Overnight, they had sailed with a large spinnaker and benefited from the decreasing winds. The new Hamburg team reported that their boat was in "very good condition" after the tough tests in harsh conditions, in contrast to some of their competitors' boats.
Will the lull bring further movement to the Class 40 ranking?
The leading Class 40 group was on course for Porto Santo and Madeira on Thursday lunchtime in light winds of around six to eight knots. Achille Nebout and Gildas Mahé on "Amarris" dominated the action as the new leaders. They were followed by "Café Joyeux", "Ibsa" and "Alla Grande Pirelli". However, the flat conditions could well cause upsets in the classification.
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How brutal it was at sea - Pip Hare found impressive words for the conditions after the second night, while her crew also had to lament a tear in the mainsail:
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Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
