The rich, heady aroma of spice has, for many centuries, lured sailors away from safe harbors out into the wilds of a windswept ocean and the Transat Jacques Vabre is no different. This is a race about coffee. It's a race that links two great coffee-drinking countries, France and Brazil, in a transatlantic dash to be competed by some of the fastest and most sophisticated sailboats afloat. While the Transat Jacques Vabre, or TJV as it's affectionately known, has not been around as long as some of the other more established events, it has rapidly risen to become one of the preeminent races on the sailing calendar. The reasons are simple; the race starts in Le Havre, France at a time when most people are settling in for a long winter, and it races tropical waters to the sun drenched coast of Brazil. The juxtaposition of these two climates and cultures offers great color, but more importantly the race allows the American and European based sailing campaigns to extend their season and to compete against other top short-handed sailors. Past winners have included the worlds best solo sailors and for this 7th edition the elite are gathering once more for another head-to-head battle. With 16 multihulls and 19 monohulls entered, the field is set for another spectacular event.
The seeds for the TJV were first planted in 1977 at the Paris Boat show when a group of solo sailors gathered and talked about staging a double-handed race across the Atlantic. Plans were sketchy and financial backing minimal, but in true French form the first race was held in 1979 when a fleet of 39 yachts set sail from Lorient, France. They rounded a buoy off Bermuda and sailed back to Lorient with the first two boats finishing a scant five minutes apart. For the first time satellite tracking was used to track the boats and engage the public, and the close finish captured their imagination which led to a subsequent race in 1983. Six years passed before the race was held again, but without a major sponsor it was hard for the event to gain any solid traction. That all changed in 1992 when Jacques Vabre, a brand of coffee manufactured by Kraft Foods and sold into France, stepped forward as title sponsor and the rest, as they say, is history. The Transat Jacques Vabre was born with the first edition racing from Le Havre to Cartagena in Columbia and sailed single-handed. Two years later race organizers decided to make it a double-handed event and two years after that they changed the finish from Columbia to its present location in Salvador, Brazil.
The race gets underway over the weekend of November 5 and 6 with the monohulls starting on the Saturday followed a day later by the multihulls. The 50 and 60 foot monohulls sail directly for Brazil while the multihulls leave Ascension Island in the South Atlantic to starboard. This effectively lengthens their race with the idea being that both fleets finish at the same time. It's not an easy course. With the Northern Hemisphere winter fast approaching it's expected to be a rough first few days as the yachts make their way out of the English Channel and across the notoriously rough Bay of Biscay. Early winter gales often lash the coast of France and Spain sure to make it a baptism by fire for the Gryphon Solo crew, but once south they will pick up the trade winds and enjoy a warm wind at their back and the prospect of some exhilarating sailing ahead. The doldrums, or Pot au Noir as the French like to refer to the region, will present a major challenge before the boats enter the Southern Hemisphere and sail down the coast of Brazil to Salvador. If Joe and Josh sail tactically smart and the wind gods are kind they can expect to be at sea for three weeks.
While the larger mono and multihull classes usually get the most media attention, the rematch between Gryphon Solo, and Kip Stone and his crew Merf Owen on Artform,s is already getting people talking. Joe and Kip battled it out during the Transat race last summer and continued their rivalry during the Bermuda 1:2 and Marblehead to Halifax races this past summer. Joe has devoted a lot of time and energy to increasing the performance of the boat, much of it aimed at improving downwind performance, so with much of the TJV sailed off the wind it's likely to be a close race.
There are four other top 50 footers in their class, none of which should be discounted. Perhaps the closest competition will come from Vedettes de Br閔at, the yacht that won the class two years ago. The boat is a sistership to Gryphon Solo and will be sailed by Servane Escoffier and Bertrand de Broc. Servane is the daughter of a top solo sailor Bob Escoffier who will also be sailing in Class 2 aboard Adecco-Etoile Horizon. Her crew, Bertrand de Broc, rose to fame during the 1992 Vendee Globe non-stop around the world race when he sewed his own tongue back on while at sea. They will also have to keep an eye on Defi Vend閑n, the boat that took second place in Class 2 two years ago. The boat has undergone a complete refit and skipper Jean-Fran鏾is Durand has engaged the help of Vendee Globe veteran Karine Leibovici as crew. There is not much known about the sixth boat in the 50 foot monohull class, but the British team of Paul Metcalf and Ryan Finn sailing Polarity Solo may well be the dark horse intent on toppling the top dogs.
No matter the result the Transat Jacques Vabre will be an important race for Joe and Gryphon Solo. It will be Joe's longest aboard Gryphon Solo and the toughest given the contrasting weather conditions. Equatorial calms are often harder to deal with than gale force winds but both will give Joe the opportunity to hone his skills in preparation for the VELUX 5 Oceans.
Written By:
