USA moves up in Transat Jacques Vabre

(November 12, 2019; Day 17) – In the 14th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the jury issued Advens for Cybersecurity a two-hour penalty in the IMOCA Class for failing to round the last mark of the 4350nm doublehanded race from Le Havre, France to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. As a result, Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry on USA’s 11th Hour Racing, who finished less than 15 minutes behind in fifth, are now fourth.

Also in the IMOCA Class, PRB, 11th Hour Racing, and Newrest Art & Fenêtres were penalized by 1 hour and 30 minutes for breaking engine seals, but all three teams had fulfilled their penalty during the race.

In the Class40 Division, Sam Goodchild is running out of time to be the first Briton to win the class, as of the 15:00 (UTC) ranking, Goodchild and French co-skipper, Fabien Delahaye, on their Leyton were still 62 miles behind the leaders Crédit Mutuel, who have just 380 miles to the finish in the Bay of All Saints.

The two-year old Leyton has only been able to make up 3.5 miles in the last 24 hours against France’s Ian Lipinski and Adrien Hardy on the latest generation, Crédit Mutuel, with its distinctive large rounded nose and apparent speed in all conditions. As they race down the north-east coast of Brazil, second place looks safe for Leyton with Aïna Enfance & Avenir lying 73 miles further back and making no impression overnight.

“We’re 30 miles from the coast to avoid container traffic – we saw it around Fernando de Noronha,” said Ian Lipinski, the skipper of Crédit Mutuel. “There was not that much there, but we’re redoubling our vigilance to avoid anything that could reverse our position.”

A further 51 miles behind Aïna Enfance & Avenir, Crosscall Chamonix Mont Blanc, looks to have escaped their three rivals but the latest generation Banque du Léman is just 24 miles behind them in fifth. If the wind is not very generous at the end of the course and is as complicated as it was for some of the IMOCA, it could be another nail-biter.

Estimated arrival times:

Thursday, November 14
Crédit Mutuel – 04:00 (UTC)
Leyton – 12:00
Aïna Enfance & Avenir – 20:00

Friday, November 15
Crosscall Chamonix Mont-Blanc – 00:00

In the harbor
Twenty-one of the IMOCAs and all three Multi50s are now moored in the port of Salvador de Bahia. On land the atmosphere is one of reunion, memories of the race and parties, meanwhile at sea, the remaining duos continue their relentless pace.

IMOCA Update
Six IMOCA are still racing to Salvador de Bahia, and though there is nearly 600 miles between first and last, there is a keen battle between the older generation IMOCA in the fleet. Britain’s Pip Hare Ocean Racing is just 4.5 miles ahead (and 50 miles southeast) of 4myplanet with 578 miles to go as they approach Recife.

Estimated arrival times:

Wednesday, November 13
Campagne de France (Miranda Merron (Britain) and Halvard Mabiré) – 17:00 (UTC)

Thursday, November 14
Pip Hare Ocean Racing (Pip Hare (Britain) and Ysbrand Endt (Holland) – 15:00
4myplanet (Alexia Barrier (France) and Joan Mulloy (Ireland)) – 18:00
Ariel II (Ari Huusela (Finland) and Michael Ferguson (Ireland) – 23:00

Race details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

First held in 1993, the biennial Transat Jacques Vabre has three fleets of doublehanded teams – Class40s, Multi50s, and IMOCA 60s – competing from Le Havre, France’s to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The 4350nm race started October 27 with estimated race times as:
Multi50: 11 days
IMOCA: 13-14 days
Class40: 19 days

Source: Transat Jacques Vabre