Extra Time…Pre Start
Yesterday (Sunday) the sports director and the organisers of the 5400 miles race from Le Havre to Itajaí, Brazil made the decision to postpone the start due to forecasted bad weather. Race direction have again highlighted their desire to maintain the multi-class ethos and to maximise the number of finishers in each of the four classes in Brazil.
Looking at the forecasts today, Monday, race direction consider a start Thursday November 7th as likely with a skippers briefing now scheduled for Wednesday November 6th at 1500hrs local time.
According to current weather forecasts there is a weather window for Thursday November 7th open before a big depression arrives on Saturday. Race direction has therefore confirmed that there is a ‘high probability’ that the start for all classes will be made off Le Havre on Thursday, November 7th. “The start time will be confirmed at the briefing on Wednedsay at 1500hrs,” said Sylvie Viant, Race Director of the Transat Jacques Vabre.
The delay to the start gave an opportunity for most of the crews who are based in northern France to return home for a couple of days. But for the international contingent – there are 12 nations represented including France – another two or three days in Le Havre opens up opportunities to go sightseeing, to keep fit, to carry on with the small jobs which there are always there on race boats, and to stock up on quality rest.
For Concise 8’s British duo Sam Goodchild and Ned Collier Wakefield the extra days are bonus time to keep refining their boat.
“For us it is actually a little extra bonus.” Collier-Wakefield says, “It’s a chance to do some more small jobs on the boat because we were already short of time, things like refining and learning our media communications system on board. And it is good to be able to get our heads more and more into race mode. With the lack of time we were probably not quite in the right place in our heads. We want to go with no stops. A stop would ruin the race for us. We know we are going to get a beating at some point, that is unavoidable.”
For the duos who have no technical team, no preparateurs, keeping on top of the little jobs is a profitable way to out in the extra days. Miranda Merron, ready for her fourth Transat Jacques Vabre is looking forward snatching a few hours of leisure time, but she believes that staying with the boat and Le Havre keeps the skipper in the race zone mentally:
“We have a very reliable boat and so I am pretty confident we could have got it through just about anything,” says the English skipper, “and from that point of view you know that there would have been a level of attrition that we could have done well from, but in the end you never really know. We want as many boats finishing as possible. Meantime we are just us so we have to stay and look after the boat. There is a great swimming pool here which we have not had time to use so we will look forwards to that.”
For the Australian husband and wife duo Michelle Zwagerman and Patrick Conway, this Transat Jacques Vabre forms the final stage of an extended adventure in Europe, mainly on board their Class 40 Croix du Sud. Originally they bought their boat with a view to doing the Global Ocean Race around the world, but instead they have cruised and raced over the last seven months sailing over 6,000 miles including winning their class in the Roma per Due classic. They admit there was some trepidation about their starting, but had they gone Sunday or Monday, were looking at one or two stops to ride out the worst of the weather and seas, as other Class 40 crews are believed to have been considering. The additional delay does not worry Conway, other than:
“I think the longer you stand on the precipice the harder it is to jump off,” Conway smiles, “we would have gone today but our game plan was to stop in Cherbourg, to then go as far as we could, then stop in Brest. This weekend, Saturday night will be very, very hand. The two capes are like gateways that you had to get through. So it is frustrating.”
“We have to go with what the race committee decides, but if we go Thursday we will stop and wait for Sunday. I think we will then see 30kts but more from behind after that.”
“We figured that we will get a pasting at some time. But the seas are the problem. The boats can handle it but can we? There are big seas, wind over tide, a lot of ships, fishing buoys, boats and containers. That is a lot of risk.” Conway considers
“We initially wanted to do the Global Ocean Race but the timing changed. That took it outside the time window and our budget. We will sell the boat after this. This Christmas is the end. We have had the boat just over two years. We did the worlds, got to Rome for Christmas last year, did the St Tropez 900 and Roma per Due. We did Les Sables Horta and were not last. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot. The objectives on this race are 1. To arrive. 2. To arrive with Husband and Wife still speaking to each other, 3. and if we don’t come last that would be a bonus.”
“We are tidying things up, wish list jobs, things we could have done better we are re-doing. We have a new sail which we are trying to learn about. We are sending the boat back to La Trinite and we will sell it. If we sell it we will take our road bikes to Istanbul and ride back to Munich.”
Class 40′:
