Dominque Wavre and Michèle Peret’s next competition aboard Mirabaud is fast approaching with the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre scheduled for the 30 October in Le Havre.
Mirabaud is currently based in La Rochelle and the technical team, managed by Dominique and Michèle, have their hands full preparing the hull and interior of the yacht for the arrival of the new mast on the 15 September. Meanwhile in New Zealand, the new spar is being built under the watchful eye of Olivier Marthe, project manager at Southern Spars and for the moment, all is going to plan.
The Transat Jacques Vabre will be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and there are only three months left until the start of the famous two-handed transatlantic race! The inaugural edition was in 1993 and it is run every two years. The course tracks the ancient coffee trading routes across the Ocean from France to Costa Rica.
“It is a fantastic race. I have personally competed in it several times: in 1999 with Marc Thiercelin, then in 2001 and 2003 with Michèle and again in 2005 with Mike Golding,” said Dominique. “It feels as though Michèle and I have been ashore too long already, we are itching to go sailing again. We can’t wait to line up on the start line in October. In our minds, this race is more like a sprint than a long offshore. The crossing will take up to three weeks and we will be full on from start to finish. We will have plenty of time to rest at the other end! With a 20 day race, you can’t afford to take your foot of the pedal for a moment.”
Entries are up compared to 2009 which saw 20 teams entered. This year more than thirty two-handed crews spread across three classes (IMOCA, Class 40, Multi 50) will set off for Costa Rica on the 30 October.
The IMOCA monohull fleet, which includes Mirabaud, will be the largest class and almost all of the top names will be on the start line, including defending champion Marc Guillemot (Safran) who has teamed up with Yann Eliès this year. Three new 60 footers will be lining up for the Autumn classic: the latest Cheminées Poujoulat (Bernard Stamm/Jean-François Cuzon), launched last Spring in La Ciotat; Macif (François Gabart/Sébastien Col) which is scheduled to be launched on the 9 August and Acciona, the Spanish yacht skippered by Javier Sanso.
And finally, there will also be a newcomer to offshore sailing: skier Luc Alphand who will be crewing for Marc Thiercelin (DCNS).
