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November the 8th marks the start of the 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre. The race takes place every 2 years, since it started in 1993, and was originally designed to follow the traditional trade route of the clippers transporting coffee from Brazil to France. The TJV will be setting off again from Le Havre in the north of France, but this time, is offering the double handed crews a new destination: Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.
There will be two courses, one for the monohulls (Open 60s and Class 40 yachts), and one for the Multihulls (ORMA 60 and Open 50s) The course will represent 4,730 miles for the monohulls and 5,050 for the multihulls. The new course will take the crews across the Caribbean Sea with just one single requirement: for monohulls to leave the Dominican Republic to starboard and for the multihulls to leave the island of Barbados to starboard.
Apart from the fact that this race is the highlight of the IMOCA race calendar, one of the most exciting elements, from a spectator’s point of view, is watching such huge names in the world of ocean racing competing against each other. We are particularly interested in following the Monohull Teams, as there are several British yachtsmen and women involved: Dee Caffari, Samantha Davies, Alex Thomson, Brain Thompson, Ross Daniel, & Mike Golding. At the Roan Star Sailing Outlet, we are big fans of the IMOCA races. We try to follow as many as possible, and we have come to know many of the European sailors such as Michel Desjoyeaux, Jeremie Beyou, Sebastien Josse, Kito De Pavant, Roland Jourdain & Guillermo Altadill from following the Istanbul Europa Race, the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Artemis Transat and the Vendee Globe.
List of entered IMOCAs:
Guillermo Altadill (Spain) & Pachi Rivero (Spain) Boat: 1876
Arnaud Boissières (French) & Vincent Riou (French) Boat: Akena Verandas
Samantha Davies (British) & Sidney Gavignet (French) Boat: Artemis Ocean Racing
Dee Caffari (British) & Brian Thompson (British) Boat: Aviva
Armel Le Cléac'h (French) & Nicolas Troussel (French) Boat: Brit Air
Sébastien Josse (French) & Jean François Cuzon (French) Boat: BT
Marc Thiercelin (French) & Christopher Pratt (French) Boat: DCNS
Michel Desjoyeaux (French) & Jérémie Beyou (French) Boat: Foncia
Kito de Pavant (French) & François Gabart (French) Boat: Groupe Bel
Alex Thomson (British) & Ross Daniel (British)Boat: Hugo Boss
Mike Golding (British) Other crew member unknown Boat: Mike Golding Yacht Racing
Marc Guillemot (French) & Charles Caudrelier Benac (French) Boat: Safran
Roland Jourdain (French) & Jean Luc Nélias (French) Boat: Veolia Evironnement
Alex Pella (Spanish) & Pepe Ribes (Spanish) Boat: W Hotels
Transat Jaques Vabre Race We will follow the race on the official website and check Twitter and YouTube for updates. Several of the sailors are on Twitter, and we are hoping that there will be lots of coverage online, as several of the IMOCAs have had onboard cameras during other races this year.
It should be a very exciting race!
