2005 âeuros A year of breakage, capsizing and abandonment
For this 7 e edition, a new generation of multihulls faces off against an armada of trimarans given a winter makeover. It will also be the first ocean race for a new generation of 50-foot trimarans.
35 duos took to the Paul Vatine basin in Le Havre, but this year's edition was one of the toughest in the history of the event Transat Jacques Vabre a big depression swept through the fleet in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, causing Yvan Bourgnon and Thomas Coville to retire and Armel Le Cléac'h to capsize. Then, off the Canaries, Franck Cammas and Franck Proffit were caught in a gust and turned around... while the Italian duo Soldini-Malingri were caught in an equatorial squall and capsized.
Despite breakages and several technical stopovers, Pascal Bidegorry and Lionel Lemonchois finished 3 hours ahead of Fred Le Peutrec and Yann Guichard after two weeks at sea. The monohulls also suffered the wrath of the ocean, but Jean-Pierre Dick, this time in partnership with Loïck Peyron, was unflappable despite the pressure of the Roland Jourdain and Ellen MacArthur duo, who only conceded them half an hour.
On their new 50-foot trimaran, the Escoffier fathers and sons completed the course in just over twelve days...
2007 âeuros The arrival of the Class40s
There are fewer and fewer Orma trimarans, due to a decaying circuit. But this year, the Imoca boats are out in force, as they come to prepare for the Vendée Globe. Above all, this year's Transat Jacques Vabre welcomes the Class40s, with thirty boats taking part.
There are only 5 60-foot trimarans left on this new course, where there are no more marks to tack. And it's Franck Cammas, accompanied by Stève Ravussin, with his new machine perfectly tuned and a step ahead of his rivals, who wins his 3 e victory in the race, in a time of 10 days. Lionel Lemonchois and Yann Guichard followed, while Pascal Bidegorry and Yvan Ravussin finished with a broken float bow.
But it was in the monohull category that all eyes were riveted, as a revolutionary prototype, a Verdier-VPLP design, arrived on the scene to counter the armada of Farr designs. Michel Desjoyeaux, assisted by Manu Le Borgne, took victory, even though the course was extremely competitive, with no fewer than 7 leaders. Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier followed three quarters of an hour behind.
Franck-Yves Escoffier wins again with Karine Fauconnier in the Multi-50 class, and in the Class40 class, the match is intense for the Italian duo Giovanni Soldini-Pietro d'Ali, who sail a faultless race ahead of Dominic Vittet and Thierry Chabagny.
2009âeuros The crisis in the ocean race
After Brazil, it's time for Costa Rica. There's no Equator to cross, but the Caribbean Sea isn't necessarily any easier to cross. In this edition, the Orma multihulls have thrown in the towel, while the Imoca monohulls returning from the Vendée Globe are fewer in number than expected, and the Class40s are absent. Only 20 boats took the start
Ocean sailing is in crisis: the Orma trimarans are dead, the MOD-70 one-designs are not yet operational, the maxi-multihulls are dedicated solely to record-breaking, and the Multi-50s are still struggling to convince sponsors. Even the Class40s, which made their mark in the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre, are nowhere to be seen... Nonetheless, this new course is highly attractive and very selective, especially with a huge low-pressure system setting up on the direct route in the middle of the Atlantic.
The storm split the fleet in two, with those who avoided the strongest winds finding themselves trapped in the Portuguese calms, and those who crossed it and suffered the assaults of a stormy sea. As proof, the monohull of Sébastien Josse and Jean-François Cluzon saw its deckhouse blown off by a wave: the crew was airlifted to the Azores.
While Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier played the scout and kept the lead all the way to Puerto Limon, they were joined by Franck-Yves Escoffier's Multi50 with Erwan Le Roux as teammate, who eventually won.
