Transat Jacque Vabre: First 24 hours
At 0900 yesterday morning Pip and co-skipper Ysbrand left a buzzing Le Havre amongst a parade of IMOCAs ready for the start of the 2019 Transat Jacque Vabre. The breeze slowly filled in and the boats departed at 1300 to begin the 4350 miles to Brazil.
The support boats slowly dropped away as the fleet headed into the sunset. Aboard SuperB, the intensity of the last few weeks preparation was not without its toll and coupled with a few last-minute niggles before the start meant a challenging first few hours. As darkness fell, the breeze was set for a lively first night at sea.
“I mean obviously we were pretty disappointed with our first leg, but I think it's just a reflection on what a big push it's been to get to the start. And even on the start line we were dealing with issues. But yeah, last night we just went for it. We stuck out the kite, and then held it until we sort of really felt we needed to take it down this morning. Because we couldn't get up to Ushant. But we had an absolute blast, it was pitch dark and the boat was absolutely chucking along, surfing maybe at 20 knots. Loads of big waves, huge amounts of water over the deck. I did a walk through the boat in the middle of that, crawled around in the dark just to make sure everything was okay and it was good. Everything seemed solid, dry. It's so nice to feel comfortable when you're in the boat under that much pressure. It was a good night.
We've probably got less than a mile visibility at the moment. I can't see anybody else. I know there are people around, and last night we had to be really careful because we were all flying under spinnakers in quite close proximity. We really had to keep our eyes peeled.
We're just coming round Ushant, 3 sail reaching now. So this afternoon really is the last of the glory sailing. Although I'm not sure you call it glory sailing because it's drizzly and pretty cold. And then we've got to look forward to a lot of beating!”
Follow Pip and Ys with the tracker here: https://www.transatjacquesvabre.org/en/map-and-ranking
Counting down to the start. Photo courtesy of Paul Larsen.