The Transmanche Race told by Sam Davies

Samantha Davies, the talented british yachtswoman based in France, raced the 220 nm cross-channel “Transmanche” last friday and arrived in a time of 13h30m, 15 minutes from the record set by Sébastien Josse (13h14m), a french skipper based in Brittany.

Sam Davies & Crew - Transmanche Race 2012

The courageous sailor, who’s sponsored by MaxSea and Furuno, didn’t beat the record but had the chance to run many weather routings with the help of her MaxSea TimeZero software. The weather wasn’t good to her Savéol boat, just as the routing predicted, so it was at least a great training for the races to come, particularly the Vendée Globe.

Sam Davies & Savéol - Transmanche Race 2012

The information offered by the Routing module was accurate, a crucial and sometimes painful point in sailboat racing.

Sam Davies close-up - Transmanche Race 2012

Here’s a little abstract of Sam’s post about the Transmanche race:

“Last Friday we raced the Transmanche on board Saveol. The course is simple: L’Aber Wrac’h – Plymouth breakwater – L’Aber Wrac’h. For the IMOCA 60s the race is a “time trial” format, and the record to beat is Seb Josse on board BT – 13h14minutes. I was joined by Erwan Lemeilleur and Roger Capitaine for the race.

 For the few days before the race I had been running weather routings that gave us a time of 13h28 at the best and so I knew that we were in for a good try at the record! The conditions were strong easterly winds – reaching both ways – so strong that the other boats in the race were sent on a different course to avoid the gale force winds. “

Read Samantha Davies’ post: The Transmanche

MaxSea International official sponsor of the Europa Warm’Up race

MaxSea International is very happy to be an official sponsor of the Europa Warm’Up race, a 3.300 nautical miles adventure in 2 legs: Barcelona-Cascais/Cascais-La Rochelle.

Europa Warm'Up 2012 - Barcelona Port

The race, organised by the FNOB and IMOCA, will serve as the essential final major event before November’s start of the Vendée Globe race around the world, as they announce, it’s the « Last call before the Vendée Globe ».

Europa Warm'Up - MACIF Boat leaving Barcelona's port

It stars 7 IMOCA Open 60 boats (6 French, 1 Spanish): MACIF (who’s also sponsored by MaxSea), Virbac-Paprec, PRB, Banque Populaire, Groupe Bel, Cheminées Poujoulat, and ACCIONA 100% Ecopowered.

Go to our Facebook page to see cool pictures of every IMOCA 60 boat.

The race, who set sail from Barcelona on May 19th, is expected to reach La Rochelle early in June.

Europa Warm'Up - Virbac-Paprec Boat leaving Barcelona's Port

To follow the race visit Europa Warm’Up’s website, Facebook page or Twitter account.

Cool pictures of La Solidaire du Chocolat 2012 festivities

La Solidaire du Chocolat transatlantic race started 10 days ago after many festivities in the area surrounding the port of Saint Nazaire in France.

As an official supplier, we are lucky to receive exclusive pictures from the organisers.

In these, you will feel the warm reception from the public of the numerous concerts, parades and other activities; enjoy the particular atmosphere brought by mexican dancers, chefs and artists; and the gorgeous pics of the Port and the race start:


Follow La Solidaire du Chocolat 2012 on Facebook and get all the informations about our partners on MaxSea International Facebook Page.

MaxSea, official supplier of La Solidaire du Chocolat 2012

MaxSea is glad to support the second edition of La Solidaire du Chocolat 2012, a transatlantic race between France and Mexico. Starting on March 11th from the French port of Saint Nazaire and ending 26 days later at the fishing port of Progreso, in the Yucatán Peninsula (by April 6th).

La Solidaire du Chocolat Route

The race, exclusively conceived for Class40 boats, will be preceded by a music festival in Nantes from 1st to 3rd March and other cultural activities like a big parade on the Loire River between Nantes and Saint Nazaire.

La Solidaire du Chocolat Class40 competitors

After 9.260 km, the sailors expect overseas a colorful and warmful welcoming committee in the Mayan territory, with traditional dances and music to celebrate the accomplishment of this transatlantic race that helped raise 500.000 euros in its first edition.

La Solidaire du Chocolat - Fishing port of Progreso
Source : http://animalworld.com.ua/news/Samyj-dlinnyj-v-mire-pirs

MaxSea thanks the organization of La Solidaire du Chocolat for letting us participate to this great solidarity event in support of the people of Yucatán once again.

La Solidaire du Chocolat poster

Follow the event at: http://www.lasolidaireduchocolat.com/fr/accueil

Follow MaxSea Official Facebook Page for more news about our company and partners: www.facebook.com/maxseainternational

If you want to know more about MaxSea TimeZero Software range, please visit us at: http://www.maxsea.com/time_zero_range

Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Sailing Arabia – The Tour

Even thought the start of the race has been posponed due to the weather conditions, the opening ceremony took place as planned on Sunday, in the presence of His Highness the King of Barhain Hamad II.

Let’s take a look at this video,  recorded yesterday by our partner Courrier Dunkerque during the event:

If you can’t visualize the video, please refer to its original source.

Nine teams from six different nations were scheduled to set sail yesterday, but due to strong winds, the race start has been delayed to 0700 hours local time today, February 13. The teams will race over 14 days visiting 7 stopovers, and covering 1.408 kilometres on their way.

Here are some pictures of Team Courrier Dunkerque:

Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Olympics committee and Shaikh Khalifa bin Abdulla al Khalifa, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Maritime Sports Association, were among those who joined Oman Sail CEO David Graham at the ceremony, to officially inaugurate the 2012 edition of the race.

MaxSea International wishes the best of luck to our partner Courrier Dunkerque!

La Solitaire du Figaro 2011 : Jérémie Beyou wins in Dieppe and is crowned king of the Solitaire du Figaro 2011

Today, Wednesday at 12:49:01 Jérémie Beyou crossed the line first to win the fourth and final leg from Les Sables d’Olonne to Dieppe. By finishing in Dieppe ahead of the rest of the fleet, and scoring his third consecutive victory, BPI’s skipper Jérémie Beyou was crowned overall winner of the 2011 Solitaire du Figaro, an edition he dominated from the outset. This win means he joins the exclusive club of double winners of the event.

The BPI skipper covered the 437 miles in 72 hours, 37 minutes and 1 second. It was one of the closest finishes ever for the race, with four boats flying past the line in a little more than 30 seconds. Second place went to Paul Meilhat (Macif 2011) just 12 seconds later, third to Fabien Delahaye (Port de Caen Ouistreham) 28 seconds after the winner and fourth to Erwan Tabarly (Nacarat) at within 35 seconds. Continue reading

La Solitaire du Figaro 2011 : Jérémie Beyou winner and overall leader in Dún Laoghaire

The 2005 Solitaire du Figaro champion crossed the finish line Dún Laoghaire not only to win the second leg but take the overall lead in the four-stage sailing race. Nicolas Lunven, the 2009 champion was second with Adrien Hardy, who won the stage to Ireland in 2010, third. Morgan Lagravière, was top rookie in 6th. The first of the four British sailors, Phil Sharp, was 23rd, just over an hour behind the leader.

The pewter grey skies cleared briefly to let some bright sun through to spotlight the first Figaro on the horizon and reveal the breakaway leader of the 46 solo sailors competing on the second of four legs that make up La Solitaire du Figaro race. The second leg, 440 miles from Caen to Dún Laoghaire close to Dublin on the East coast of Ireland, set off last Sunday and took just over 65 hours for the winner to complete. Jérémie Beyou (BPI), blew his spinnaker in the shifty breeze just a couple of miles from the finish, but had been surfing downwind at a blistering average of 14 knots, whilst keeping a close eye on his pursuers as he helmed his boat to victory at 10:15 in the morning. The successful and experienced French solo sailor, averaged 6.7 knots over the 65 hours and 25 minutes and 16 seconds. He was both jubilant and exhausted upon arrival. Continue reading

Quelques mots de notre partenaire Isabelle Joschke

Bonjour à tous,

En pleine préparation de la Solitaire du Figaro qui partira ce dimanche de Perros-Guirec, je vous écris un petit mot pour vous donner quelques nouvelles de ma saison 2011.

Après le retrait de Synergie cet hiver, il m’a été difficile de trouver un budget complet pour participer une quatrième fois aux courses du circuit Figaro Bénéteau. Grâce au soutien des Galettes St-Michel, ainsi que de mes partenaires Julbo, Panasonic, Distinxion, Plastimo, Maxsea et VOR, que je remercie pour leur fidélité, j’ai néanmoins décidé de participer à cette Solitaire du Figaro pour laquelle je me suis préparée et entraînée toute l’année. Continue reading

La Solitaire du Figaro 2011 : Perros-Guirec bursting with activity

The picture perfect town of Perros-Guirec in Northern Brittany has been a hive of activity since the Solitaire du Figaro race village opened and boats arrived last Saturday. The marina is full with the skippers making final preparations to their boats and the Race Village is bursting with activity. Final security and measurement checks are being made, moments of rest and concentration for others as they plan ahead to the Eric Bompard Cachemire Prologue race, scheduled for Friday 28th at 17:30. Continue reading

Normandy Sailing Week : 110 crews registered on the Eve of Normandy Sailing Week 2011

As has been the case every year since its launch in 2006 in Deauville, NORMANDY SAILING WEEK has racked up an ever increasing number of competitors, despite a busy sports schedule and several other important events in close proximity. In this way, nearly 110 crews have registered to date for NORMANDY SAILING WEEK 2011, with some still yet to sign up before the start of the event this Friday 10 June in Le Havre, where the M34 series from the Tour de France à la Voile will open proceedings. Continue reading