The departure of the 12 e edition of the Transat Jacque Vabre will take place on October 25, from the port of Le Havre to Itajaí, Brazil.
The 84 skippers are expected on Friday, October 16 for a grand presentation on Saturday, October 17. During the week preceding the start, the city of Le Havre and the race village will open their doors for 10 days of festivities. This weekend, the Paul Batine basin and the Eure basin will host the race village, where the famous sailors will be presented and where they will perform in inshore regattas, visible from the docks.
The Jacques Vabre, also known as the Coffee Route, was born in 1993, but at the time it was sailed solo. Since 1995, it has been a double-handed race. The concept is simple: to reach a coffee destination by crossing the Atlantic Ocean (from east to west), from Europe to the Americas, in double-handed. The Jacques Vabre brand had the idea of creating this transatlantic race, on the same route as the great merchant ships of the 17th century e century. They left the coffee producing countries to find Le Havre, 1 er coffee port of France.
This event has the particularity of welcoming several classes of boats, in the manner of the Route du Rhum. Thus, on the starting line, there will be four classes of monohulls and multihulls from 12.18 m to 32 m: 4 Ultimates, 4Multi 50, 14 Class 40 and 20 Imoca.
Even if the starting port remains Le Havre, since the creation of the âeuros 1 race er french port importer of coffee âeuros the destination changes. From 1993 to 1999, it was Cartagena in Colombia, then Salvador de Bahia in Brazil, from 2001 to 2007, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, in 2009 and 2011 and Itajaà in Brazil in 2013.
To qualify for the Transat Jacques Vabre, the skippers had to sail between 600 and 1000 miles double-handed, on a course validated by the Race Committee. Of course, it was mainly the newcomers who had to qualify.
A sporting adventure, but not onlyâeuros¦
In addition to the sporting aspect of the race, Jacques Vabre has included a human dimension between France and coffee-producing countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil. Since 2007, sustainable development has taken on its full meaning through the race with the spirit "Take to the sea, act for the earth". Supported by the Ademe and the Ministry of Ecology, the Transat Jacques Vabre has become the 1st re eco-responsible race. Transport, energy and water consumption, but also waste management are at the heart of the actions carried out, making it possible to obtain a much lighter environmental balance from one edition to the next.
Records to be beaten with increasingly fast boats
In the last edition, the Mod 70s were the fastest boats, taking 11 days from their departure from Le Havre. The last Class40 stayed at sea for more than a month. And this year, the record should be beaten since the Ultimates are expected on the course. The arrival should be done in less than 10 days since the record holders, Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier, took 11 days and 5 hours in 2013, on their MOD 70 with an average speed of 22.12 knots.
Erwan Le Roux and Yann Eliès took 14 days and 17 hours in the Multi50 class with an average speed of 16.6 knots. Vincent Riou and Jean Le Cam hold the record in the Imoca class with a crossing in 17 days at an average speed of 14.12 knots. Finally, in Class40, Sébastien Rogues and Fabien Delahaye took 20 days and 21 hours with an average speed of 11.11 knots.
The Le Havre - Itajaí route
5400 miles is the course between Le Havre and Itajai, which makes the Transat Jacques Vabre the longest double-handed transatlantic race on a north-east to south-west route. From now on, there are no more course marks, which opens the field for the sailors.
The course from Le Havre to Itajaà is composed of six main zones, from North to South. The skippers will have to leave the English Channel, cross the Bay of Biscay, go down to the Ecuador, make a long tack in the trade winds of the southern hemisphere until off Rio de Janeiro and then make a technical crossing to ItajaÃ.
The Transat Jacques Vabre has undergone some changes since its creation, notably on the courses which were different according to the classes or on the departures which were postponed. But in 2013, because of the weather conditions, all the classes of boats left together, on a single course. This will be the case again in 2015.
Some key figures
354 sailors have participated in the race since its creation, including 30 women
121 foreign crews crossed the starting line, including 13 winners
3 three-time winners: Franck Cammas / Jean-Pierre Dick/Franck-Yves Escoffier
Participation record: 60 crews in 2007, including 30 Class40
The most participations : Marc Guillemot with 9 participations
