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Transat Jacques Vabre Preview

Skipper Jean-Pierre Dick and co-skipper Fabien Delahaye’s IMOCA 60 St. Michel-Virbac trains for the Transat Jacques Vabre.

© Yvan Zedda

The biennial Transat Jacques Vabre — one of the most prestigious shorthanded ocean races in the world — will begin its 12th edition on Saturday in Le Havre, France, bound for Itajaí, Brazil. Dealing with big tides in the English Channel at the start, oftentimes gnarly weather in the Bay of Biscay shortly thereafter, and the challenges inherent in crossing the equator, this 5,400-mile marathon is one of the most challenging doublehanded races on the calendar. A healthy fleet of 42 boats in four divisions, bolstered by a record-breaking fleet of 20 IMOCA 60s, will accept the challenge of sponsor and coffee producer Jacques Vabre in sailing across the Atlantic to re-trace the coffee trade routes that have connected France and South America for centuries.

Several groundbreaking new designs are making their ocean racing debuts, most notably in the IMOCA division. Pitting five new ‘foiling’ 60-ft monohulls against their non-foiling predecessors, this is the first time that the new boats will compete against the old boats on a course that can offer definitive evidence of the gains that have been made by using foils on a monohull. While the new boats may be much quicker on a reach and when the breeze is up, the top-tier previous-generation boats will likely hold an advantage in light-air, upwind and VMG-running conditions and can’t be discounted.

In addition to the headline-grabbing IMOCAs comes the long-awaited debut of Vendée Globe winner Francois Gabart and sponsor MACIF’s new foiling solo maxi-trimaran. As in the IMOCA fleet, Gabart’s new VPLP maxi-tri is the first  of a new generation of boats designed from the ground up to foil. To claim victory in the TJV, Gabart will have his hands full with Thomas Coville’s rebuilt Sodebo Ultime and the recently rebranded Irens maxi-tri Actual. The shortest, oldest and ‘slowest’ boat in the race is Lionel Lemonchois’ über-turboed ORMA 60 that now measures 80 feet and is a weapon in light air.

The Class 40 division is smaller than usual with just 14 entries, though with arguably greater parity than in years past, while the Multi 50 fleet returns with just four boats entered, but all of the heavy hitters present.

Follow along on the tracker, skipper a boat in the Virtual Regatta, and stay hip to all of the news.

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