Paris (AFP)

The first large-scale offshore race since the end of the Vendée Globe, the Transat Jacques Vabre, which will start in November, innovates with an unprecedented finish in Martinique and three demanding courses for 80 boats spread over four classes.

Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq), winner of the Vendée Globe 2020, Franck Cammas, François Gabart, Armel Le Cléac'h, Thomas Coville but also three 100% female duos, two father and son tandems and three ski world champions are in the cast of the fifteenth edition of the prestigious bi-annual double-handed race, presented with great fanfare on Thursday in Paris in the presence of the majority of the skippers.

The start will be given on Sunday November 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) for a crossing of the Atlantic on three routes to offer a relatively grouped finish to the four classes: the Ultim (maxi-multihulls 32 m long), the Imoca (18 m monohulls), the Ocean Fifty (15 m multihulls) and the Class 40 (12 m monohulls).

"It will be a big start in Le Havre on the same date with a compulsory passage in the Channel, the Bay of Biscay then a road towards the doldrums, the equator and there, it differs a little. The Class 40 are the only one. a class which will not cross the equator this year, the Ultim will descend east of Rio (Brazil), "said race director Francis Le Goff.

The most represented class will be the Class 40 with 45 boats entered: the Ultim, these giant flying sailboats, will form a fleet of five boats, all back in competition in a long offshore race after two years of abstinence.

It will even be an inaugural race for two of them: the one skippered by Armel Le Cléac'h (Maxi Banque Populaire) associated with Kevin Escoffier - wrecked during the last Vendée Globe - and launched in April, and that of François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue), in tandem with Tom Laperche, and left the building sites two months ago.

Everyone is keen to show that they are particularly fast, the race could be played between 12 and 14 days.

It will also be a return to confrontation for most of the competitors from the last Vendée Globe, including the first three: Bestaven, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée).

© 2021 AFP