The Transat Jacques Vabre is a yachting race that follows the historic routes followed for coffee trading between France and Brazil. It has become one of the most well-known races in the world since it began in 1993 and it takes place every second year.
The race’s starting point is Le Havre in France, and the end point is in Itajaí, Brazil. The route measures a total of 5,400 miles. There are no imposed waypoints, so the racers must choose what they consider to be the fastest route to their destination.
Le Havre has traditionally been, and remains to this day the leading coffee importing port in France. This year, about 40 boats are expected to take part across all categories.
The Transat is a two-handed race, meaning that there are two sailors on each team. For the pair to be successful, they must have a complementary set of skills, and it’s also important that they get along well together too.
Both multihulls and monohulls from the following classes may participate in this race: ORMA, IMOCA, Class 2 Monohulls, Open 50 Class and Class40.
All kinds of navigational aids are allowed in particular for routing, except for the Class40 boats (as this is forbidden in their own rules). MaxSea’s advanced routing module is a very effective tool for calculating the fastest route from one point to another. It takes into account various factors such as wind speed/strength, waves and currents and has been used very successfully by famous racers such as Michel Desjoyeaux.
Important dates for the 2013 race:
- October 26: Grand opening of public village Le Havre
- October 26-27: Exhibition race in the basin of the Eure
- November 3: Start of the Transat Jacques Vabre
- November 18: Grand opening of village public Itajai
- 3rd week of Nov: Estimated finish date of the first boats
- November 30: Postlogue and first prizegiving in Itajai
- December 7: Official Prizegiving in Itajai
Here are the current title defenders, who were successful in 2011:
Monohull 60′
Virbac-Paprec
Jean-Pierre DICK & Jérémie BEYOU
15days 18h 15min 54sec
Multihull 50′
Actual
Yves LE BLEVEC & Samuel MANUARD
17days 17h 7min 43sec
Class 40′
Aquarelle.com
Yannick BESTAVEN & Éric DROUGLAZET
21days 17h 59min 8sec
MaxSea proudly supports the Jacques Vabre Transat race by acting as a technical partner.
This video gives a nice overview of the race:
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