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The Die is Cast: The 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre assembles

by Transat Jacques Vabre 17 Oct 2015 09:51 BST 17 October 2015
The 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre assembles © Jean-Marie Liot / DPPI / TJV2015

Despite the drizzle and the grey skies, the famous Paul Vatine basin in Le Havre takes on a festive mood now that the Transat Jacques Vabre fleet is mustered. Only four boats are missing, expected over the weekend on at least by Tuesday night, but this afternoon the race village opened its doors to the expectant, excited public at 1600hrs (local), right on the dot. Now, for the coming day, the Le Havre docks will be abuzz with a frenetic rhythm of daily activities, chances to meet the skippers, hear marine personalities and writers, see boats baptised, concerts and bands, and all with a Brazilian party spirit.

At midday Friday, four boats were missing from the total expected complement of 42 boats which comprise the 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre fleet. Missing so far from the IMOCA fleet is Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson/Guillermo Altadill) who delayed their delivery because of a daggerboard problem. They intend to be in Le Havre by Tuesday. O Canada (Eric Holden/Morgen Watson) is a couple of days behind schedule because of the passage of cyclone Joachim. Contrary, NE winds mean they have been slowed and tacking to get to Le Havre, but they too should be in Le Havre, Tuesday. And the two GBR Class 40s, Concise 2 (Philippa Hutton-Squire/Pip Hare) and Team Concise (Jack Bouttell/Gildas Mahé) should both get to the Le Havre tonight.

A 20,000 m2 Race Village

From 1600hrs Friday evenings of "Magic Transat" readings and music with nationally known figures and seminars are on the cards. Families can sail with instructors on keelboats, the sublime images of Maud Bernos themed"The sailors have blue eyes", not to mention the evenings filled with Brazilian music!

Saturday: the prologue, inauguration and skippers parade

From 0900hrs to 1730hrs, the 84 skippers take to J80s for the prologue of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 which will take place on the Eure basin. At 10:30, a street will be inaugurated in the name of past racer and race officer Jean Maurel in the race village. At 1800hrs there is the skippers parade! Then there is the rhythm of Batucada (Brazilian music), accompanied by dancers and children from the sailing clubs children of the Seine-Maritime region. All the way up to next Sunday's start of the race to Itajaí, Le Havre rocks to a Brazilian beat.

#VivezLaCourse

From Tuesday 20th October, Radio Transat will be broadcasting from the stage in the Village. A daily programme will be presented by Serge Herbin.

A special Transat Jacques Vabre supplement will be distributed on 18th October with the French daily newspaper, l'Equipe in Greater Paris, Western France and in Le Havre. This special issue will also be handed out in the Village in Le Havre.

France Télévisions, the French public service broadcasting network, partner to the Transat Jacques Vabre, will have its teams at work in Le Havre:

  • From Monday 17th to Friday 23rd October and at 7.15 p.m. special programmes will be included in the regional news on France 3 Normandie
  • On Saturday 24th October, a lot is planned: all of the news programmes will be coming live from Le Havre as well as the programme Littoral, which will be broadcast live from 3.20 to 4.50 p.m. on France 3's Western France regional stations
  • On Sunday 25th October, the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre will be shown live on the national channel, France 3 from 1.20 to 2.50 p.m.
Radio France will be broadcasting many programmes from Le Havre with several live broadcasts:
  • On Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th, Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October with France Bleu Haute Normandie
  • Thursday 22nd October, Daniella Lumbroso and the panellists, Thierry Garcia, Patrice Gascoin and Pascal Atenza will present Midi en France from noon to 1.30 p.m. on France Bleu
  • Special Transat programmes presented by Annie Le Fléouter, Isabelle Le Brun and Sylvain Geoffroy, will be broadcast on the France Bleu Norman stations, Cotentin, Haute and Basse Normandie
  • France Info will, also be involved with reports in the news bulletins from Sunday 18th October
  • Catherine Pottier and Fabrice Rigobert will be live from the pontoons from 12.30 to 3.30 on Saturday 24th October and from 11 to 3 on Sunday 25th October to enable listeners to hear coverage of the start
On the web

The Transat Jacques Vabre is also present on the web:

  • www.transat-jacques-vabre.com: the official race website in three languages enables visitors to follow what is happening each day with regularly updated news, weather analysis, and a tracker that is updated every thity minutes
  • Social networks, such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram and the hashtags #VivezLaCourse #TJV2015
  • The Transat Jacques Vabre app presents the latest news and tracker to allow you to follow the competitors What the Transat Jacques Vabre is all about...
  • 354 skippers, including 30 women have taken part in the race since it was first created
  • 121 foreign crews have lined up including 13 winners
  • 3 three-time winners: Franck Cammas - Jean Pierre Dick - Frank Yves Escoffier
  • 54 winners since the race was created
  • 9 attempts by Marc Guillemot
  • 60,000 cups of Jacques Vabre coffee drunk in Le Havre
  • 592,000 visitors in 2013 (362,000 in Le Havre – 230,000 in Itajaí)

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