Transat Jacques Vabre: "Witches' cauldron" survived - "weather bomb" in sight
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink finished the sprint start of the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre in 23rd place. The two newcomers from Hamburg completed the stormy section from Le Havre to Lorient in 1 day, 14 hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds. They crossed the finish line 4 hours, 17 minutes and 56 seconds after the class winners Ambrogio Beccaria and Nicolas Andrieu on "Alla Grande Pirelli".
"Alla Grande Pirelli" with a commanding start-finish victory
Second and third place went to Xavier Macaire and Pierre Leboucher on "Groupe Snf" and Mathieu Perraut/Kévon Bloch on "Inter Invest". The best female skippers were the Ocean Race sailors Amélie Grassi and Anne-Claire Le Berre on "La Boulangère Bio" in tenth place. The two Frenchwomen crossed the finish line around two hours after class winner "Alla Grande Pirelli". The start was overshadowed by the mast breakage of co-favourites Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier on "Crédit Mutuel".
After arriving in Lorient at 4.04 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Melwin Fink said with relief: "We arrived safely and survived the stormy ride. It was pretty tough. It was a witches' cauldron. One witches' cauldron after another. Even the start was a bit different than planned with up to 46 knots." Lennart Burke said: "Yes, it was tough. But I think we did everything right. We sailed very defensively at the start. In the end, we didn't want to do that any more, but we didn't find the speed we actually needed."
We travelled through the night like blind birds" (Melwin Fink)
One reason for this was the wind sensors, which both failed. Melwin Fink explains: "We had no more wind data during the night. The cables seemed to have broken. As a result, we travelled through the night like blind birds." Lennart Burke added: "Like blind fish. It was cruel not to find the speed. The top light no longer works. Both wind sensors no longer work. We still don't know exactly what happened."
The 25-year-old Burke and his 21-year-old co-skipper had a few regrets about the result itself after the tough test. Melwin Fink said in Lorient: "We had actually hoped for a bit more. We are very happy that the boat is in one piece, but we wanted to be a bit further ahead and not have such a big gap. We drove around like blind chickens. It's terrible to be so reliant on the technology - especially at night, it's madness."
The big leg is still to come" (Lennart Burke)
Nevertheless, the new Hamburgers were already optimistic about the further course of the Transat Jacques Vabre, where the big leap across the Atlantic is still to come. Lennart Burke said: "The big leg is still to come. We're really keen, fully motivated and really looking forward to being here in Lorient with the whole boat. Apart from the mast cables, we think everything is fine."
For safety reasons, the race organisers of the transatlantic classic from Le Havre to Martinique had only sent two of the four boat classes on the 300 nautical mile short course to Lorient. There they are to wait out heavy Atlantic storms until the restart on course for the Caribbean can take place. This also included the Class 40, in which Burke and Fink are competing.
Imoca launch and relaunches for Ocean Fifties and Class 40 next weekend?
It is still unclear when the restart for the Ocean Fifty and Class 40 classes from Lorient and the start of the Imocas from Le Havre can take place. The race management has announced: "The start will not take place before Saturday 4 November. We hope to be able to start on 5 November." Boris Herrmann and Will Harris on "Malizia - Seaexplorer", Munich-born Isabelle Joschke and Pierre Brasseur on "Macsf" and Andreas Baden from Kiel with Fabrice Amedeo on "Nexans - Art & Fenêtres" are preparing for this in the Imocas.
First, however, all the teams in both harbours prepared for the severe storm Ciarán expected to hit the French Atlantic coast on Wednesday evening. This powerful system had led to the fleet of 40 Imocas, which were due to start the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre on Sunday, being stranded on the quayside in Le Havre. An exceptional storm with wind speeds of over 80 to 90 knots is expected to hit the coast. For this reason, the Imoca fleet has already been moved by its skippers, teams and helpers within the Bassin Paul Vatine of Le Havre and secured to the maximum.
"Weather bomb" on the way: a storm like 1999?
The Imoca teams helped each other in great solidarity. Maxime Sorel, skipper on "V&B-Monbana-Mayenne", said: "Some of the technical teams have already left. So we are helping each other. That's normal and genuine solidarity among us sailors. We are used to being friends on land and rivals on the water."
The approaching severe depression is said to be comparable to the storm that France experienced in 1999, which caused huge damage back then. "It's a very explosive low-pressure area with very strong winds and particularly heavy seas," said "Apicil" skipper Damien Seguin. In an announcement by the organisers, there is talk of a "weather bomb".
No rescue service could help a sailor in distress" (Yoann Richomme)
Gusts of 110 to 120 km/h are expected inland and even more at sea, as "Paprec Akrea" skipper Yoann Richomme explained: "At sea, 80 knots are forecast, with gusts of more than 100 knots (ed.: more than 185 km/h). In a sea with waves of twelve metres. That is unimaginable. No rescue service would be able to help a sailor in distress."
Without these current worries, a Transat class has long been on course for the Caribbean. Two nights after the start on Tuesday morning, the five Ultim giants fought a thrilling battle at sea off the Portuguese coast. With the lead constantly changing hands, François Gabart and Tom Laperche on "SVR Lazartigue" were ahead on the morning of 31 October. Defending champion Charles Caudrelier followed 50 nautical miles behind with Erwan Ïsrael on "Edmond de Rothschild", who were travelling at top speeds of over 30 knots. The Ultim class was the only one to be sent directly to the Caribbean because the multihulls were fast enough to escape the storm in time.
Ocean Fifty Sprint decided
The sprint results of the Ocean Fifties, who reached Lorient ahead of the Class 40 duos, remain to be added. The class winners here were Thibault Vauchel-Camus and Quentin Flamynck on "Solidaires en Peloton", who reached Lorient just under an hour ahead of Luke Berry and Antoine Joubert on "Le rire médicin - Lamotte". Third place went to Sébastien Rogues and Jean-Baptiste Gellée on "Primonial".
Arrived safely! The first reactions from Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink:
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
