The Transat

Start Transat Europe 1

1960 - The start of it all
Fifty declarations of intent were received by the organisers but in the end only five boats crossed the start line off Plymouth, and remarkably all five reached New York on the other side. Self-steering gear was in its most basic homemade form, roller-reefing sails were just a dream and there were no satellite navigation systems, just hand-held compasses and sextants.

Best time: 40 days, 12 hours
These five pioneer yachtsmen took very different options, with Blondie Hasler (Jester 25ft) opting for an extreme Northern route, Francis Chichester (Gipsy Moth III 40ft) and David Lewis (Cardinal Vertue 25ft) on the Great Circle route and Val Howells (Eira 25ft) and Jean Lacombe (Cap Horn 21.5ft) on the Azores route. Little was heard from the competitors during the race and fears grew for their safety but, finally, Chichester arrived 40 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes after leaving Plymouth. Hasler reached New York in 48 days but second place was no disappointment. He had proved that his self-steering system was more than efficient to handle the 25ft Jester with a single Chinese lugsail on an unstayed mast, and claimed he had only had to take the tiller for one hour of the entire journey. Jean Lacombe was the final skipper to arrive after 74 days!

OSTAR 1976 - Club Mediterranee

Sailing legend Tabarly
By 1976 the OSTAR had reached its zenith with more than 300 applicants and more than 125 boats reaching the start line of what would go down in the history books as one of the great ocean races of all time. The event was won for the second occasion by Eric Tabarly, this time single-handedly sailing his Whitbread maxi Pen Duick VI usually crewed by 18. As if this was not challenging enough, the North Atlantic that year was in a turbulent mood, throwing five gales in the path of the competitors - two of the gales had winds exceeding force 9. Tabarly once again experienced autopilot failure as he had in the 1964 race. Completely exhausted he briefly turned his boat about for France, before thinking better of it and resumed the race. Tabarly's second win, possibly his finest hour, created another media sensation in France and propelled him from sailing hero to legend.

How could one man sail a boat so big?
The most talked about boat in this race was the entry of 1972 winner Alain Colas. Jean-Yves Terlain's participation aboard the 128ft three-masted monohull Vendredi 13 in the previous race had clearly left an impression on Colas. The larger a boat is the faster it goes, and for the 1976 race Colas took this principle to the extreme with a larger version of Vendredi 13, the 236ft long four-masted, Club Mediterranée. How could one man sail a boat so big? In fact Club Mediterranée had roller furling fitted to all her sails. She was also the first boat in the race ever to use satellite navigation to locate her position (in this pre-GPS age everyone else had to use a sextant). During the race Colas experienced major problems with his halyards and was forced to put into Newfoundland to make repairs. He ultimately crossed the line second behind Tabarly but a time penalty dropped him back to fifth overall.

Reduction of hull length in 1980
Cut off in their prime by a reduction in hull length to 17m (56ft), before the 18.28m (60 ft) formula was adopted, it was certainly no coincidence that in 1980 the French, thus deprived of their legendary machines, no longer shone as they had done previously. The American Phil Weld put in an intelligent performance on a Dick Newick designed made-to-measure trimaran.

1984: First place for rescuer
1984 was a very special year, the one in which Philippe Poupon took line honours but not first place which was awarded to Yvon Fauconnier in the official rankings, as the race committee had granted him the sixteen hours he had spent rescuing Philippe Jeantot. Yvon Fauconnier was announced as official winner with a time of 16 days, 6 hours and 25 minutes. Poupon was therefore classified second, ahead of Marc Pajot on Elf Aquitaine and Tabarly.

Revenge in 1988
1988 was the year in which Philippe Poupon sought his revenge. He attacked from the word go, sailing Fleury Michon IX to perfection, ahead of Olivier Moussy and Loïck Peyron and in 10 days, 9 hours and 15 minutes, set a new record spending one month less on the Atlantic than the first winner of this race, Francis Chichester.

1992 - multihulls prevail
The Transat was still organised by the Royal Western Yacht Club and changed name when Europe 1 joined the ranks in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Seventy-nine boats entered in 1992. For a rough idea of how the fleet was divided, in 1996 among the leading solo racers were 22 French yachtsmen, 14 of which were on multihulls, and 17 Brits of which 14 were on monohulls. In 1992, Loïck Peyron won in eleven days, one hour and 35 minutes. Paul Vatine came second in 12 days 7 hours and 48 minutes, finishing more than one day later, followed by Francis Joyon, third.

High tension in 1996
The 1996 Transat was the tenth in the series. Francis Joyon opted for a very northerly route, which turned out to be an excellent choice, but as he was propelled towards victory, he capsized off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. At this point in time, those following him lay almost 24 hours behind - Paul Vatine also on a northerly course but 292 miles behind and Loïck Peyron a little more than 334 miles. The tension was maintained right through to the finish as the two yachtsmen played cat and mouse, depending on who made best use of currents and local conditions. In the end, Peyron pulled into the lead, just a puff ahead of Vatine to win in 10 days 10 hours and 5 minutes, leaving Poupon’s record intact. Vatine came in just two hours later.

2000 - Joyon wins on vintage yacht
Francis Joyon was happy to be setting out on his 1994-vintage craft, against the latest trimarans. He was also eager to put his theory to the test. According to Francis, “modern multihulls are perhaps not best suited to ocean racing”. Joyon reached Newport in a state of extreme fatigue, setting a new race record at 9 days 23 hours and 21 minutes. At an average speed of 11.52 knots, he made it into harbour ahead of Marc Guillemot (Biscuits La Trinitaine), Franck Cammas (Groupama) and Alain Gautier (Foncia) who no sooner had he got off his boat went over to welcome Francis: “Ah Francis, what a bastard! You really gave us a hell of a run for our money…”. Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher), who came in first in the monohull class ahead of Roland Jourdain (Sill) and was on that occasion nicknamed ‘Little Big Woman’.

Records tumble in 2004
Although the competitors in the 2004 edition of the race were heading to a new finish destination in Boston (US) 2800 miles from Plymouth (UK), the difference in course distance to the previous finish port of Newport was negliable. What set the 12th edition of the race apart from other previous editions, was the speeds the 37 skippers covered the 2800 mile course distance. In all classes from the extreme ORMA 60 trimarans to the 50-foot monohulls, the records tumbled.

The Artemis Transat
In 2008 the thirtheenth edition of the English transatlantic yacht race will go by the name of The Artemis Transat under the aegis of OC Events.




Source: www.thetransat.com

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