Even if the statutory autumnal Atlantic low and the customary biennial bashing in the Bay of Biscay awaits the 42 teams of two which will race to Brasil, a relatively gradual, gentle start to the 12th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre appears to be on the cards Sunday lunchtime.
Crédit : O Blanchet / TJV2015
The chance to build up steadily to race pace will be welcomed by most in the four classes which will start at 1330hrs (CET) Sunday, even if the intensity level at the front of each division promises to be especially high. The first few miles will be slow and laborious – indeed current forecasts promise just 5 knots off the Le Havre start line – but the SE’ly breeze should build progressively through the afternoon and into the evening to produce a fairly straightforward, relatively rapid exit from the Channel.
The tempo should build as the fleet get to the Cherbourg peninsula but the step changes in the breeze and the tidal changes should see the splits between the four classes open out early in the race. Ahead there are three key choices to be made before the equator. There is the usual go north and west and take the bigger hiding sooner or go south and sail safer but through a more complicated, weather situation comprising numerous, evolving fronts. Ahead the laterally elongated high pressure system is messy, the trade winds motorway south is scarcely functioning and the doldrums look wide and active. With such a series of challenges between Le Havre and the Southern Hemisphere it looks like there will be several opportunities to catch up any lost miles in the initial days.
That said there will be an uncomfortable, difficult period in Biscay with winds to 40kts and waves of seven metres during late Tuesday and Wednesday. The silver lining is that the low pressure generating these strong winds appears to be relatively slow moving. That should mean a more orderly sea state than that generated by a fast moving front, but the potentially boat breaking seas will consequently sustained over a longer period.
Obective: Itajaí
For the top international hopes such as Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill on the brand new, never raced or rallied HUGO BOSS, it will be a case of gently coaxing their new baby through the first days rather than the usual hammer down and hold on.
“Our strategy? Don’t break the boat. We just intend to not be stupid and break the boat. The objective is to get to Itajaí.” Said Thomson.
In Class 40 Jackson Bouttell, British skipper of Team Concise, is also looking to concentrate on finding the race rhythm with French co-skipper Gildas Mahé:
“.Everyone is going to be all guns blazing at the start line that's normal and we just have to keep it together for the first bit and just get into a routine and try not to do anything silly. I think if we can get out and we have the conditions we can just let this thing ( the boat) do what it does and just let it go.
“ It is a quick boat for sure but for me it's a reliability thing this whole race, it's to keep this thing in one piece and for me I think that's my goal for this campaign, No-one has actually finished a race in this boat before which is a little bit of a hard thing to get across in your head. It's the second Jaques Vabres and two years of not finishing races.”
They said:
Alex Thomson, GBR, skipper IMOCA HUGO BOSS: “It does not look as bad as it did before, the day before yesterday. There was lots of debate about whether we should go or not. But like the race director says if you don’t want to go, don’t go. It will be light off the start, pick up through the afternoon and then a spinnaker run towards Cherbourg. And then from there it will be a reach. And depending on how the low evolves there is a front and you either go straight through the middle of it and come out the other side. And some might stay south and try and stay out of the bigger waves. Our strategy? Don’t break the boat. What is going to happen later is that it does not look like anyone will get through the high pressure ridge. So there is a debate as to how much this first bit matters as much as it might do normally (as there would be some compression again). The ridges are there from Tuesday, Wednesday.
One of the things is that low is not moving very quickly and so if it was you end up with the confused seas as the waves are SWly and then get a NW’ly wind. Whereas if it stays the way it is it should be slightly more ordered. I don’t know. We just intend to not be stupid and break the boat.
The last hours I spend time with my friends and family. There are a few little details to be done. But I enjoy some nice lunches and dinners with the sponsors.”
Sam Goodchild GBR co-skipper IMOCA Comme Un Seul Homme Stand Alone: “The weather is still looking quite rough but it is not as bad as it was looking a couple of days ago. The problem for us will be seas which will be quite changeable if you have to quite close to the centre of the low as it looks like we might. Strategically there is still the choice of going north or south but in fact I think that will be decided for us as we get closer. But for us big waves are more of a worry. Our aim is to keep the boat in one piece, first and foremost. We don’t want to push too hard and don’t need to. Our sails are not new and so we will have to look after them. But the good thing is that it is looking better, and that is always nice at this stage. We will still likely see 40kts, the usual fun and games in the Bay of Biscay, but for sure I am glad I will be on an IMOCA 60 this time and not a Class 40.
Philippa Hutton Squire, RSA, Class 40 Concise 2: “ It is everyone’s own decision whether you go or not. The Class 40s are solid enough. We have sailed them around the world. We should be fine. It will be what it will. We spend the last hours having a nice lunch, enjoying life, enjoying being dry. I think we are ready.”
“ We are going to try and get offshore and sail in the steadier seas, hold on tight, look after each other and look to just getting to the finish line.”
And Pip Hare
“ You always get a bit nervous, there is this trepidation before you go to sea. It is a big trip, there is always some uncertainty. We have put our boat through enough this year so we know it will be OK.”
Pascal Bidégorry, FRA, co-skipper MACIF: “Just because this tri is designed to sail around the world singlehanded and for us to do everything it does not mean we should underestimate the challenges we face. We will have to sail in seven to nine metres waves, it will not be easy especially in the Bay of Biscay. And, especially, the later you are the worse it will be. So we need to get to Cape Finisterre quickly.”
From Transat Jacques Vaabre
