After a three-day postponement due to adverse weather conditions, the Transat Jacques Vabre fleet finally got away today at 15:00 off the coast of Le Havre in over 20 knots of breeze and cloudy skies. “The race yachts set a brisk pace off the start line, either under spinnaker or gennaker depending on individual choices,” said Jean Maurel, the Race Director. “After less than 30 minutes into the race, they all had to gybe to head west. Gybing is physical, so the strongest and most practiced crew will generally come out of the manoeuvre on top.”
Mirabaud had one reef in the mainsail for the start and got off the line very well. Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret rounded the offset mark – the General Metzinger buoy – in fifth place and set a course for the western end of the English Channel. They expect to reach it by tomorrow morning. Virbac Paprec, that won the Barcelona World Race last winter, was leading the fleet ahead of PRB, Macif and Groupe Bel.
“We have a pretty accurate idea of what we can expect,” said Dominique Wavre this morning, a few hours before the start. “We loaded the right sails for the conditions and brought some fresh food onboard for the first few days of the race. We expect the first half of the event to be physically challenging and wet. Conditions are expected to build this evening up to about 35 knots. After that there should be a slightly calmer patch before we get swept up into a new low-pressure system. It is setting up to be a quick, but challenging race across.”
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, is 4,730 nautical miles away and the first competitors are expected to start arriving from the 16 November.
