Transat Jacques Vabre – Le Havre – Ha preso il via oggi dal porto di Le Havre la nona edizione della Transat Jacques Vabre. I partecipanti hanno puntato il largo al fronte di condizioni meteo favorevoli. Forse gli skipper degli IMOCA 60 avrebbero voluto un pò di brezza in più, un pensiero appena accarezzato e immediatamente cancellato dal primo ragguaglio meteo, indicante un deciso peggioramento della situazione già a partire dalla giornata di domani. Sarà allora che bisognerà prendere la prima decisione di una certa importanza: andare verso sud in cerca di brezze meno forti ma costanti o gettarsi a capo fitto nel fronte puntando verso sudovest?

Una partenza piuttosta tranquilla quindi, com’è giusto che sia quando ci si lancia verso una regata sulla carta lunga 4.730 miglia per gli IMOCA 60 e 5.050 per i Multi 50.

A prendere la testa della regata tra gli IMOCA davanti a Caffari-Thompson e alle coppie Josse-Cuzon e Guillemot-Caudrelier, è stato sin dalle battute iniziali Groupe Bel di De Pavant-Gabart.

La prima vera emozione l’hanno fornita loro malgrado Le Cam-le Blevec, finiti gambe all’aria verso la tarda serata di domenica. I due, impegnati a bordo di un trimarano fresco di varo, si trovavano ventidue miglia a nord di Cherbourg e stavano viaggiando a 22 nodi quando Actual si è ribaltato improvvisamente. Gli skipper, che non hanno riportato conseguenze, si sono riparati all’interno di uno degli scafi e attendono i soccorsi, lontani circa un ora e mezza. Nel frattempo, a vivere la prima notte da leader saranno Franck Yves Escoffier e Erwan Laroux che, a bordo di Crepes Whaou, ahnno già fatto il vuoto.

Per seguire la regata sul tracke clicca qui.

Video courtesy Transat Jacques Vabre.

TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE, ACTUAL CAPSIZED
[Transat Jacque Vabre Press Release] Actual, the new trimaran of Yves le Blevec and co-skipper Jean Le Cam is reported to have capsized in a position approximately 22 miles north of Cherbourg around 16.45hrs GMT. Reported to have been making around 20 knots of boat speed in approximately 23 knots of wind, the boat is reported to have pitch-poled. The two co-skippers are reported to be safe, are inside the boat OK and have requested help but did not issue a Mayday. The pair are awaiting assistance from the lifeboat which should reach them in around 1.5 hours.

Off and running
After days of rain, wind and even hail storms, the waters off Le Havre offered the 20 crews setting off on the ninth edition of the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre relatively benign conditions as they headed down the Channel, making west and south from the autumnal chills of Northern Europe for the sunshine of Costa Rica.

The slate grey clouds threatened menacingly on the distant horizons, but there were shards of sunshine momentarily slanting from the dark skies, as if on special order by the 14 crews of the IMOCA Open 60′s. If indeed they had a hotline to the weather gods they would doubtless have requested a little more breeze. But then, knowing that ahead the conditions over this first week, will certainly be complex, and even as one British skipper described them potentially ‘fruity’, a gentle start was probably welcomed.

And for all that the six Multi 50′s have a theoretical 5050 NM’s to complete, leaving Barbados to starboard, and the 14 IMOCA Open 60′s have 4730 miles to Costa Rica, leaving the Dominican Republic to starboard, no one was shy about pushing it on the start lines. Appropriately, as leading lights in the class, in the multihulls Franck Yves Escoffier and Erwan Leroux were the first break the start line of this edition, easing away under gennaker in the 7-9 knots of breeze, picking up pace to forge through the sloppy, leftover sea and the spectator boat wakes. Astern for the first few minutes, their rivals jostled with all the vigour of an intense, weekend afternoon inshore regatta.

The IMOCA Open 60′s pushed harder to their start gun. Kito de Pavant and Francois Gabart on Groupe Bel were the first to unroll their gennaker, early for the line. Forced to scrub off speed to make the leeward end of the start line, they broke to the left early. Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson proved they are out to give this course their all, and made a nicely timed start at the windward end of the line, with Seb Josse and Jean Francois Cuzon on BT in the middle of the lineup with Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier urging Safran across, all virtually at the same time.

A complex weather scenario awaits. Fast reaching conditions in a NW’ly breeze were due to give way to variable, light wind conditions of a high pressure ridge for the first full day at sea. Strategically there still seemed to be the option of staying north and fighting winds of perhaps over 40 knots on the front of the first of a series of depressions which will track across the North Atlantic, or prudently to head south early and try and breach the lighter breezes of the first part of the Azores high pressure system first.

Mike Golding, starting his sixth Transat Jacques Vabre on his unsponsored Mike Golding Yacht Racing explained: “The breeze will slowly back round to the left as the day reaches its end and overnight, then dropping quite light. Then it will keep going left until we are in SW’ly flow. Then we push to the west and fa ront which is quite active comes through. We will be tacking on to starboard and heading south. The question is when to tack south. That will be the difficult call.” My feeling is we have to cross the high ridge and so you might as well get on and do it and not risk anything in the north. The isobars are very close together. The systems are active.

“The further you go down the track and it is a typical scenario where the rich may well get richer further down the track. If that high ridge fills in front of us though, the race might re-start again and everything we do up here might be for nothing”.

To follow the race on tracking click here.

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