2015 Transat Jacques Vabre

[Bitchin Bow Dude]

Unless they make that shit break away and carry lots of spare parts, they are going to have issues.

[Panama Red]

I thought those foils might be overly sensitive, but 20 boats in 24 hours?

Around the world might be pushing it for some of these rigs?

[Photoboy]

Edmond de Rothschild Abandons



Leaders of the more westerly group of the IMOCA fleet of the Transat Jacques Vabre, Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier have confirmed they have abandoned the race. They are the second of the 20 IMOCA 60s which started Sunday from Le Havre to retire. The duo made the difficult choice which was dictated by good seamanship and their aim to bring the newest Gitana back to port safely.

The duo are in good health and will return the new IMOCA 60 Edmond de Rothschild to their home base in Lorient where they are expected to arrive late tomorrow afternoon.

At 1900hrs this Monday afternoon the Edmond de Rothschild co-skippers contacted Cyril Dardashti, the manager of the Gitana team, to say they would like to retire from the race which is heading to Itajaí, Brasil.
Sébastien Josse explained the reasons:

“Since the afternoon we had a series of incidents aboard Edmond de Rothschild. Taken individually these problems are quite minor and if we had better weather we could probably put them right. But all added up to one another and given the weather conditions we see these incidents as potentially endangering us and the boat. The weather files show more than 40kts of wind at times and seven metre seas. Charles and I consider it would not be responsible to carry on in these conditions. The boat was only launched two and a half months ago, and despite all the work which was done by the Gitana team to optimises and be ready is so short a time, these are problems associated with a recently launched boat. The decision to abandon was a very hard one but we do not want to jeopardise more than a year of hard work. The boat was designed for the Vendée Globe and that remains the major objective of the team. It is hard to retire but we must not lose sight of that as the goal.”

[Photoboy]

Bang Up Conditions For Fleet

Here we go. The first 24 hours of the 12th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the two handed race from Le Havre to Itajaí, Brazil have been fast in a building breeze. But the Bay of Biscay and an Atlantic low pressure system will hit most of the fleet this evening and tomorrow bringing building seas and big winds with gusts over 40kts. There is no big surprise in store. The ominous system has been lurking west of Ireland for some time, but is only moving slowly SE before it fills and loses some of its intensity later on Tuesday. But the duos in all four classes have been preparing as best they can for the tough conditions, drysuits and boots are on now and may be for 48 hours or more.

The big question in the 20 boat IMOCA class is prudence or push? Prudence is Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill’s watchword this week with their eight day old HUGO BOSS. They lead the class by virtue of their solid sailing and their position to the east, making more south closer to the direct course, but the British skipper warned today that their cotton wool approach – to protect their brand new boat – will lose them one day by Cape Verde against the boats which have gone west to get under the depression quicker, through to the more favourable breezes first. With time on the water so vital between now and the start of next year’s Vendée Globe, Thomson – as with others – cannot afford to have his new boat spend any more time in a boatyard than what is programmed over the coming months. HUGO BOSS leads a group of five IMOCAs including Kito de Pavant and Yann Reginau on Bastide-Otio and MACSF – cousins Bertrand De Broc and 2009 winner Marc Guillemot on MACSF.

Thomson said they had snagged a lobster pot off Cherbourg last night but confirmed:


“ Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.

But pushing hard to the west, 230 miles west of Land’s End and arc-ing NWW is the group lead by Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier who have about 240 miles of pain to get to the favourable, NWlies and the best angle. The risk is significantly higher for this group – winds over 40kts and seas of seven metres – but the rewards are expected to me much greater. Edmond de Rothschild is about three miles ahead of SMA, Paul Meilhat and Michel Desjoyeaux, with Vendée Globe runner up Armel Le Cléac’h and Erwan Tabarly about two miles further back on the Banque Populaire VIII. For this group, especially, tonight is likely to be the biggest break or make night of the race.

Sadly robbed of the chance to chose is Jérémie Béyou. The skipper from the Bay of Morlaix who has been an early retirement from his first two Vendée Globes – rig damage in 2008 and keel ram in 2012 – has had to retire after just ten hours of hard racing. He and co-skipper Philippe Legros pulled into Lorient at around 0815hrs this morning with damage to a stay expecting to be able to restart.

The team’s statement said
“ Following the damage that happened at around 2300hrs yesterday evening to a mainstay attachment, which holds the mast up from the front, Jérémie Beyou and Philippe Legros, who were in 4th place, were forced to make their way to Roscoff, which they reached this morning at 0830hrs. The shore team and suppliers analysed the situation and attempted to replace the faulty part.

In spite of their hard work, late today they were unable to guarantee that the replacement part would be solid enough to allow the two sailors to head back out to sea without any worries.”

In his statement Beyou confirmed his team are evaluating the options, whether to deliver to Saint Barth for the Saint Bart to Port La Foret B2B or have the boat early in the yard in order to get sailing earlier next year.

In Class 40 Club 103 is heading for a Lorient pit stop due to a bow and spinnaker pole problem. But at the head of the fleet, making good speeds are Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel and Corentin Horeau. The French duo appear to be going for the more conservative option, 108 miles to the SE of the British-French duo on Team Concise, Jackson Bouttell and Gildas Mahé. After holding the early lead, Team Concise are placing their faith in the north and west option, most extreme of the fleet along with Solidaires en Peloton which is right alongside them, some comfort through a night which could be pivotal. And Concise 2, Philippa Hutton Squire and Pip Hare have a steady course and a lot of faith in their well proven boat, happy to go west too.

The Ultimes, leaders of the course, are already down into the westerly breeze, Sodebo Ultim leading Macif by 17 miles, now tacked and heading for Cape Finisterre 105 miles in front of their bows at 1700hrs UTC this afternoon.

They said:
Alex Thomson, GBR, Hugo Boss: “It was not too bad but we caught a very big lobster pot off Cherbourg and so we had to stop many times. We lost at least 10 or 12 miles but apart from that it has not been too bad. Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.

It is wet on deck. We have 20-25kts the wind is forward of the beam and it is very choppy seas. It is a bit grey. But we had a good night. We cannot complain. We had a few little teething problems, nothing major but of course it takes a long time to learn a boat like this properly. So we feel pretty happy where we are. We both got a couple of hours sleep which is good and so we feel healthy”

Yves Le Blevec, skipper Actual (Ultime): “We are getting close to attacking a front which will see us with 35-40 kts in a couple of hours time. We are well rested after last night, we sailed relatively conservatively. Now we are dressed warmly and will reduce sail over time. We will take a reef in the mainsail. We must adapt the boat and the course to protect it but without losing time unduly. We expect the worst seas tonight. Now we have two metres waves but we are expecting much more. The other are further west and they are more radical than us but we give ourselves a speed limit to avoid damaging the boat and ourselves.”



Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée skipper (IMOCA): "It's going, it's wet, it goes very fast but everything is fine on board. It seems to be the belief that the route to the west will be the best. We made that choice yesterday before leaving. We have one reef in the mainsail and have between 25 and 30kts of wind with cross sea coming in from the west. We expect more wind and bigger seas as we get to the depression. We take a bit of a risk, but we take it step by step, and to be honest we are not yet really into the rhythm of the race.”



Eric Bellion, skipper As One (IMOCA): "The atmosphere is damp. Sam (Goodchild) has just woken up and we will put another reef in. All is well. We are going to the west, we have made our decision and will stick with it. But we know the seas will be big and the waves big but we will just stick with it. We are happy to be at sea, we have a great atmosphere with Sam.”

Adopteunskipper.net, skipper Nicolas Boidevézi (IMOCA): "We were not so good off the start line, it took us some time to get into the game but we managed to get up here with the boats of our generation. It will be hard at the end of the day today, from about early evening. We expect gusts of over 40kts and seas up to eight metres. We continue to push west. The centre of the depression is a little more north than we expected and we adapt. And there are still very many things we learn about our boat.”

Yann Eliès, Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir: “We are sailing with one reef and J2 with a wind of 30-35kts. It is wet because we are making 20kts since we left the top of Contentin. For now we have two to three metres of swell from our stern quarter. We are not close to the optimum route to Brazil but this is the investment we make. We make the choice and we hope it will be the good one. We hope the strategic plan will pay off. We have to get around the centre of the depression by the south. We have our dry suits on and will have them on for a while. I am lucky to have a guy like Charlie with me. He is a guy who loves the breeze and the melee that comes with the big winds. He is super motivated but trusts me because he has a bit less experience than me in these conditions.”

[Photoboy]

The first ranking at 15hrs UTC shows a small lead in the IMOCA class for Yann Eliès and Charlie Dalin on Queguiner ahead of Newrest/Matmut of Fabrice Amadeo and Eric Peron with SMA, Paul Meilhat and Michel Desjoyeaux third. Less than a mile separates the top three boats after two and a half hours of sailing, still making about eight knots upwind. At the Seine Maritime buoy SMA are leading.
In Class 40 Team Concise are second but almost side by side with their training partners Bretagne-Crédit Mutuel Élite.







Alex Thomson, GBR, Hugo Boss: “It was not too bad but we caught a very big lobster pot off Cherbourg and so we had to stop many times. We lost at least 10 or 12 miles but apart from that it has not been too bad. Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.


It is wet on deck. We have 20-25kts the wind is forward of the beam and it is very choppy seas. It is a bit grey. But we had a good night. We cannot complain. We had a few little teething problems, nothing major but of course it takes a long time to learn a boat like this properly. So we feel pretty happy where we are. We both got a couple of hours sleep which is good and so we feel healthy.”



General situation Monday, 26 October to at 0600hrs UTC

The deep depression at 970hPa at 400 miles west of Ireland is directly in front of the bows of the Transat Jacques Vabre fleet. This depression is shifting slowly SE and losing its activity. But in the meantime seas are big and the winds are strong.



Forecast for the day of 26 October and into the night.

Ultime
Have made the clear choice to go south of the depression, the winds are 17-23kts from the S but they will veer SW during the evening with gusts to 35kts. A big swell from the WNW is present.

Multi50
Are also going south the wind veers later for them as they get west later. They will get the worst swell tomorrow morning.

IMOCA
For those taking the passage to the north. SW winds 30-35 gusting to 40kts. Seas are big and it will rain this evening. S’ly fresh 20-25 gusting 30. Veers SW and builds. Sea becomes rough to very rough. Big W’ly swell.

Class 40
Same menu as IMOCA but slightly later as they progress more slowly into depression.




Tracker

Trend for the day October 27:
The depression fills as moves east south east, winds ease and the swell grows.

Richard SILVANI
Meteo France

Weather forecast over race area of transat Jacques Vabre 2013

1 General synopsis by October 26, 2015 at 00h UTC : Low 970 hPa at 400 miles in west southwest Ireland, with little move, expected 972 hPa at 12h UTC, then 983 hPa by 27 at 12h UTC at 250 miles in southwest Ireland. Le cold front axis over 12 west moving slowly east.

High 1029 hPa 40 north and 40 west moving slowly south

2 Weather forecast from October 26, 2015 at 09h UTC to October 27, 2015 at 12h UTC :

OUESSANT :South or south east 15/20 decreasing 10/15 kt later. Sea moderate or rough wave 1.5m west swell 3 m.

SOLE :Southerly 20 or 30 kt from east to west gusts 30 or 40 kt from east to west, decreasing 25 kt gusts 35 kt in west later. Sea very rough or high , wave 2m west swell 4 or 6 m from east to west

FASTNET :South 20/25 kt gusts 35 kt. Sea rough, wave 1.5m west swell 4m.

SHANNON :South 25 or 35 kt from east to west gusts 45 kt decreasing 20/30 kt gusts 40 kt later. Sea high in south wave 4m and west swell 6m. West

YEU : South 12/18 kt veering south west soon. Sea moderate becoming rough by west swell 3.5 or 4m.

PAZENN : veering South west 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt increasing 23/28 kt gusts 35 kt in north west of area at midday. rough locally high in west, wave 2m west swell 3m increasing 5m in far west. East of ROMEO : South west 25/35 kt from southeast to northwest gusts 35/45 kt from southeast to northwest, veering west 30/35 kt gusts 50 kt in west at end. Sea high or very high, wave 3m west swell 7m. Page 1

FINISTERRE :South west 15/20 kt gusts 28 kt increasing 20/25 kt gusts 35 kt in north later. Sea rough or very rough with northwest swell 6m. 3 Further outlook from October 27, 2015 at 12h UTC to October 28, 2015 at 12h UTC. Strong wind warning greater than 40 nds : None High wave warning greater than 6 m :

ROMEO and CHARCOT : houle of north west of 6m On Monday , October 26, 2015 at 07h 28 UTC.
Richard Silvani Météo-France








Jérémie Beyou: “ We were sailing under J1 at 120 degrees from the wind with all three stays in place. Suddenly stay no.2 came down with the sail and broke as it fell on the outrigger. We managed to recover it. Luckily it fell at that moment. A couple hours later, we would have been under J2. In that configuration, the boat would have been dismasted, as we would have removed the other two stays that hold up the mast.”

“The swivel came unscrewed. It may have been the locking system that broke. Today, we found a way to replace it with an identical piece, but we still need to check it out, so that we can set off in a condition that will allow us to face the weather that is forecast in the coming hours. It’s very hard, as we had been well placed in respect to the ideal option that we had decided on. In any case, we are waiting for the green light to know whether we can put any pressure on the boat in the heavy weather.”