Singlehanded Transat Starts Sunday

One of the world’s preeminent singlehanded offshore races gets underway Sunday when a fleet of 13 IMOCA 60s and 11 Class 40s will leave Plymouth on their way to a finish in Boston in the Artemis Transat. Formerly known as the OSTAR, this quadrennial test has been a legend-maker — Éric Tabarly, Francis Joyon and Michel Desjoyeaux have all made their marks here. While typically an all-uphill bash, this year’s race is shaping up to be an uncharacteristic downwind slide. In the IMOCA 60s, there figures to be one hell of a battle between Frenchmen Desjoyeaux, Vincent Riou, Loick Peyron, Seb Josse and Marc Guillemot. In the Class 40s look for Italian Giovanni Soldini to be near the top. You can follow it all at www.theartemistransat.com.