Transat Jacques Vabre - Finish

Swashbuckling Caribbean finale

It was a perfect, swashbuckling finale to bring the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed transatlantic race towards its final conclusion. Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier played the starring roles some days ago, Guillemot the hero of the Vendée Globe winning the top prize, but the final full day of racing proved a cliffhanger.

After over 5,300 miles and nearly 20 days of racing, when all four protagonists, scrapping over 5th to 8th places emerged from the cover of stealth mode at 1000hrs GMT/UTC (0400hrs local) this morning, less than eight miles separated fifth placed Veolia Environnement (Roland Jourdain and Jean Luc Nélias) from seventh placed Aviva (Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson).

And Akéna Vérandas (Arnaud Boissieres and Vincent Riou) was a further 15.1 miles behind the British duo

Having held fifth place for five days - since they broke into the Caribbean - the Spanish duo on W-Hotels, were never going to give it away easily.

Passed for the second time in the final 12 hours by Veolia Environnement, when the French duo rocketed off into the rainy gloom of yet another squall, on the strength of a sail change the Spanish pair just could not make in the gusty 25 knots breeze, they felt that they were destined for sixth.

But their determination never wavered.

The next squall brought them back to rescue their fifth, arriving like a spectre from out of the murk at 17-18 knots to haunt Veolia for the third and final time, just half a mile from the finish.

It was perhaps appropriate that the surprised Spaniards - on their own voyage of discovery, racing an IMOCA Open 60 for the first time ever - cemented their success arriving Puerto Limon, in the wake of their legendary forebear Christopher Columbus who sailed to the New World in here in 1502.

Ribes and Pella finished four minutes and 16 second ahead of their French rivals, exhausted but pleased to have taken fifth, in between two of the most successful IMOCA Open 60 racing skippers, Michel Desjoyeaux and Jourdain.

They had only sailed together for a few days before embarking on this race, and learned as they came down the track. Standing smiling in the torrential rain on the dockside they admitted to many mistakes and ‘beginners errors' but they can be justly proud of their result in this highest quality field.

The Spanish were delighted. But there was disappointment for Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson on Aviva. At one point they were, according to Ribes, 100 metres away from Aviva.

They waited for the British pair to tack and, in the end, chose to do their own thing, gaining 15 miles in to the finish.

The British pair slowed in a final light zone, losing out to Akéna Vérandas in the last stages to finish eighth, just 27 minutes behind the 2004-5 Vendée Globe winner Vincent Riou and skipper Arnaud Boissieres.

Caffari and Thompson's disappointment in losing out in the high stakes scuffle, which was largely carried out in torrential tropical rain and changeable winds, was obvious but Caffari reflected enthusiastically on how much she has improved since she competed in the last edition in 2007 as an IMOCA greenhorn.

All four boats finished within just over three and a half hours. 1876 was due to finish by around 1800hrs GMT and Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet on Artemis later tonight.

Quotes:

Pepe Ribes, (ESP), W-Hotels:

"The last 36 hours have been no sleep, no eating, nothing. We played the stealth card and so did everyone else at the same time. And when we played the stealth it was the first time that we saw a boat, with Veolia just crossing our bows, that was yesterday morning. Then since then we passed them once and then they passed us again, then we passed them again just half a mile from the finish line. I really don't know what made the difference in the end. We went to the beach and then we saw Aviva, who were very close to us, only 50 metres away. We went with Aviva to the beach and we waited for them to tack but they did not tack, and so we tacked and from there we were reaching really, really fast maybe 18-19 knots. Then we saw a light and thought it was a cruising boat. We were sure Veolia were way ahead. In one of the squalls they managed to drop their spinnaker and put up their masthead genoa and go straight, so we had to bear away. So they left. And when we saw a green light we thought it was a cruising boat. I looked with the binos and told Alex and we could not believe."

"I think it is good result for us, very very good. We were not expecting such a good result at all. We did not know the level, and for me I thought between tenth and fourteenth and we finished fifth, so, fantastic. It is a good result for me, and I hope for Spain."

"I feel very, very tired. But we made many, many mistakes. At the beginning, not so much now. We made a lot of mistakes and lost a lot of miles. But we are going forwards."

"I think we were pushing the boat very, very hard and broke a lot of things. We were good together. We tried to share everything and learn about each other. He has a lot of strong points and I have strong points and it works well. He is more like an offshore sailor, more relaxed and I am more go, go, go. It is a good mix, I am always 100%. We pushed, I don't care, I sail it like a Volvo boat, we keep pushing and I don't care if the boat breaks."

"But we made mistakes, it is double handed and it is new for us."

Alex Pella (ESP) W-Hotels:

"The boat is OK, but we broke a lot of small things, the spinnaker. We had problems with the pilots, sometimes they worked, sometimes they did not work. But we fived them with a spare compass, and they worked, and then two days later they did not. But the boat is nice and work towards the Barcelona World Race. Pepe is a very good sailor. He has so much experience and pushes very hard, he has experience with the Volvo boats which helped, and I learned so much from sailing with Pepe."

"On the one hand he is a very methodical guy, very ordered but he wants to push all the time, to push hard."

"At the beginning of the race we had decided to go south, but then when we saw some going west, we said ok we try to catch this option but it was too late. In fact there was a time when we tried but we were too late. We went with the wrong option.

But we are here!"  

"Foncia and Akena went further south. We had a maximum of 50 knots in the third storm and big waves."

"I am really, really happy. We are hear to learn the boat. This is a training for the Barcelona World Race and here we are in Costa Rica, it is incredible... in between Foncia and Veolia. It is fantastic!"

Dee Caffari (GBR) Aviva:

"The race was long and it was hard, in three different parts, the beginning and the stormy stuff, getting sorted out and then the final in the Caribbean Sea. So it was very eventful, highs and lows. We have things to deal with and obviously a frustrating finish, but to be this close at the end of a race has been cool. This is in a different league to my last Transat Jacques Vabre. Sailing with Brian has been great. He is cool and calm and you think: ‘ok this is fine and you get on with it.' So the intensity I have dealt with is much greater than I am used to. It was a much more enjoyable race than the Vendée Globe, and it was nice to be in among the people who were leading. The company I am keeping now is something I never even dreamed of... Now I want to carry on. I need to find the backing but I feel like I am growing at such a speed. This was a great race to do, you learn so much with the right person on board."

Brian Thompson (GBR) Aviva:

"It was an interesting place to have the stealth play. Ther were light winds to the south on the more direct course, so people were deciding how far north to go, and we went a fairly direct course. It turned out there was a front which came through from Panama which gained us, we got through it early in the day and had clear skies for the rest of the day. Then when had nice sailing for the afternoon, maybe a little slower but we sailed less miles. But then we were next to W-Hotels and we thought it was Akenas, but it was W-Hotels who had been 100 miles ahead. Then we were in constant squalls one after the other and were never becalmed until right near the end. They must have had the one squall which drove them all the way in."

Roland Jourdain:

"Before, it was the English, now we have the Spanish! It was hard.! It was tough but fun, a great race for first place in this second group! It was intense with many challenges. We knew this course would be more varied in terms of the different weather conditions  and that really was the case. We even had our small technical pit stop, we like them with Jean-Luc. That's why I plan to make stages races. We would like to have played with the top of the fleet. The technical stop we could have done without.  We did not think it would cost us. We were optimistic but saw time slipping. Marco went very fast and I agree they went the right way, with the good options, but they went really, really fast. Yesterday morning it was hell. We waited for the wind from the east and north and had southerly. We saw a boat behind and managed to escape. Yesterday evening we saw it again and gybed away. In a squall we tacked and put five miles on them. And then this morning we were sitting all but still and a racing car arrived, someone so quick we thought it was a motor boat."

"But our boat is OK, it went well but on the other hand it is not a new boat. Veolia has gaps compared with the new boats. We still go well and make results because I know this Mobylette but it is nevertheless frustrating."

Jean-Luc Nélias, FRA (Veolia Environnement):

"We passed W-Hotels in a squall, but they negotiated them better. When we cam out from stealth, we realized we had made five miles on them, and then this morning we took another squall and got it back. From a result point of view we are not that happy. We could have battled it out with boats such as Mike Golding but the others are faster. It is nevertheless frustrating because out mainsail mast track was broken. The first reef has been very useful. But we are glad we got here. We laughed a lot with Bilou. It was a good adventure."

Times summary:

Breaking the finish line at 11:41:44hrs GMT Friday 27th November (05:41:44hrs local time, Costa Rica) after sailing for 18d 22hrs 11mins  44seconds at an 10.41knots average for the theoretical course (4730 miles) since leaving Le Havre on Sunday 8th November, Spain's Pepe Ribes and  Alex Pella on W-Hotels took fifth place in the IMOCA Open 60 class in the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed Transatlantic race. Ribes and Pella sailed a distance of 5790 miles at an average of 12.75kts.

W-Hotels finish 3 days 2 hours 49 minutes 34 seconds behind the winner Safran.  

Breaking the finish line at  11:46:00hrs GMT  Friday 27th November (05:46:00hrs local time, Costa Rica) after sailing for 18d 22hrs 16mins 00 seconds at an 10.41 knots average for the theoretical course (4730 miles) since leaving Le Havre on Sunday 8th November, France's Roland Jourdain and Jean Luc Nélias on Veolia Environnement took sixth place in the IMOCA Open 60 class in the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed Transatlantic race. Jourdain and Nélias sailed a distance of 5734miles at an average of 12.52kts.  

Veolia Environnement finish 3 days 2 hours 53 minutes and 50 seconds behind the winner Safran.

Breaking the finish line at 14:50:12hrs GMT  Friday 27th November (08:50:12hrs local time, Costa Rica) after sailing for 19d 1h 20m 12s seconds at an 10.34 knots average for the theoretical course (4730 miles) since leaving Le Havre on Sunday 8th November, France's Arnaud Boissières and Vincent Riou on Akena Veranda took seventh place in the IMOCA Open 60 class in the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed Transatlantic race. Boissières and Riou sailed a distance of  5823miles at an average of 12.73kts.  

Akéna Vérandas finished 3days 05hours 58min 02s seconds behind the winner Safran.

Breaking the finish line at 15:17:12hrs GMT  Friday 27th November (09:17:12hrs local time, Costa Rica) after sailing for 19d 1h 46m 12s seconds at an 10.33 knots average for the theoretical course (4730 miles) since leaving Le Havre on Sunday 8th November, Great Britain's Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson on Aviva took eighth place in the IMOCA Open 60 class in the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre two handed Transatlantic race.

Caffari and Thompson sailed a distance of  5700 miles at 12,45 knots average.

Aviva finished 3d 06h 25min 02secs behind the winner Safran.

British duo Caffari and Thompson finish 4800 mile transatlantic race

Caffari ranked sixth in IMOCA Ocean Racing World Championship

At 15:17 GMT today, British sailors Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson completed the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre, France to Costa Rica onboard Aviva. The duo raced hard through the final stages to finish in eighth position from the original fleet of fourteen IMOCA Open 60 yachts that started the 4800 mile race 19 days ago.

On crossing the finish line, Caffari commented:

“I’m really happy that Brian, Aviva and I have arrived safely in Costa Rica – it was tough out there for us, not just battling the extreme weather in the first week but the ongoing problems we had with the generator and lack of power as a result. Sailing with Brian has been fantastic though – we’ve had some great banter on board and both helped each other through the tricky times!”

Co-skipper Brian Thompson added:

“The fact that only ten out of fourteen starters from such a strong fleet are still in the race shows just how demanding the conditions were in the initial stages of this race. Dee and I worked together well to push Aviva hard and I am pleased that we managed to stay competitive right until the finish. It was frustrating seeing Akena Verandas sail past in the closing stages but we had a good battle with them and the others in the middle of the pack.”

The Transat Jacques Vabre was the last of the races validated by IMOCA in the two year Open 60 season and Aviva’s result earned additional points for both Caffari and Thompson. Out of 33 skippers, Caffari was ranked sixth in her first full IMOCA season, and Thompson eighth. The World Championship title was won by Marc Guillemot, skipper of Safran.

Caffari commented:

“To have finished sixth in the IMOCA rankings, alongside noted sailors like Michel Desjoyeaux and Marc Guillemot is an added bonus and makes me very proud of how much Aviva and I have achieved in the past two years.”

Aviva, the world’s fifth largest insurance group, has supported Caffari since 2005 and announced a new partnership with Caffari last month as the racing team’s founding partner. Dee is now actively searching for a new title sponsor to join her campaign to achieve a podium finish in the 2012 Vendée Globe.

Artemis Ocean Racing crosses the finish line as dramatic Transat Race draws to a close

Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet complete the Transat Jacques Vabre

British sailor Sam Davies and her co-skipper Sidney Gavignet crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques Vabres race at 05:50 GMT [on Saturday November 28th] after 19 days racing. Onboard Artemis Ocean Racing the pair were a little battered and bruised, and not as high up the leader board as they would have liked, but delighted to have made it to Costa Rica. In a race which spared few and will live long in the memories of those who competed, it was an ‘epic adventure’ where boats were abandoned and crews pushed to the edge.

Sam’s initial reaction to finishing: “ Tired! But pleased to be here at last. I'm really happy, I loved it! Whether it is hard or not, it has been fantastic and I am already sad that it is over so that is always a good sign that it has been a fantastic race “

The pair finished in 10th place in the fast Atlantic dash from Le Havre, France to the Caribbean Sea, with less than 12 hours separating the final six boats to finish. They were unable to climb up the leader board after taking a pounding in the early storms which cost the fleet so dearly. Artemis suffered damage in the early part of the race that was irreparable at sea, but Sam and Sidney took the decision not to take a pit stop but to finish the race as best they could and to learn from the experience.

Sam said: “What an epic adventure. It will go down as one of the tougher Transats that I have done! We are finishing at the back of the fleet – a disappointing result for us as we had hoped to be better placed. However, getting Artemis to the finish is actually a victory for us in a different way. Apart from the result, it has been a great race, rich in experiences, challenges, learning (sometimes the hard way!)”

Although she makes no excuses, and many yachts suffered damage, Sam outlined what they’ve contended with, ”On day two of the race one of our sails blew up beyond repair. Two days later we had parts of the boom ripping out, triggering other shock loads on board that exploded the backstay system. Another two days on and we were battling through 55-knot Atlantic depression, with our already handicapped Artemis. The storm created considerable damage to our mainsail that required us to drop it and wait for the wind to drop in order to repair.”

It was well-reported that the pair considered pitting in the Azores for repairs to be undertaken, but decided to push on and fix what they could themselves. Sam continues: “Sidney and I had a lot of work on our hands - add autopilot failure and wind instrument loss to the list, plus Iridium phone cut out, the list goes on!"

We battled through each job and at the same time pushing Artemis as fast as we could in the situation, to try not to loose too much ground. Every time a repair was successful, there was a feeling of elation and joy. Emotions are quadrupled when one is tired and at the edge of ones limits - both despair, but also the positive emotions, which like a drug spur you on to keep going and defeat the next problem on the list.”

As ever, Sam remains constructive about what she can take from the race, and optimistic about the future: “Despite our result. I can't wait to get out there again and use what I have learnt to be stronger, better, faster.... sometimes you have to learn from the tough times.”

“The result is just a small part of this equation. I am here to learn, my goal is the Vendee Globe 2012, and thanks to this race I have learnt HEAPS for the future - that in itself is a success. Sidney and I have learnt more about Artemis and what we could do to make her easier to sail, handle, perform - that too is a result as Artemis is still in her evolution period and the objective is to discover how we can get her to top form. We have conquered the North Atlantic and made it across (4 of the 14 starters did not) and we are stronger, with more experience and more miles under our belts.”

There’s also little doubt that the Sam and Sidney pairing was a huge success, they worked well as a team and have nothing but praise for one another. As Sidney says: “We’ve accumulated nice stories along the way, a few mishaps too, but above all three months of beautiful complicity. We started with a blank page, and this adventure will remain one of the best episodes of my career as a sailor.”

Sam’s sure that everything she has experienced will make her an even stronger sailor in the future:” When I’m rested in a few days I will look back on this race and all that has happened and I will realise that it’s not just the result that counts. In the future you will see me put the experience of this race into use and my results will show the truth.”