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Over the long history of the Transat Jacques-Vabre, since 1993 some 538 skippers including 51 women have set off from Le Havre.
“The biennial rhythm of the Transat Jacques Vabre is very special.” says Franck Cammas. “I always found it interesting not to be stuck to fixed destinations but to have this meeting in Le Havre every two years. The Coffee Route comes round regularly and is part of our history”
Of the 538 candidates, there are 67 names of winners and them there are some stand oust. Twelve of them have in fact won twice. The first to do so also gives his name to the basin in which the boats will be moored from October 20. That is Paul Vatine a local hero to Le Havre, who was lost during the 1999 edition which he set off on in the hope of achieving the hat-trick, sailing then with Jean Maurel on their Groupe André trimaran. Maurel survived.
The others double winners are Steve Ravussin, Franck Proffit, Yves Parlier, Loïck Peyron, Paul Larsen, Roland Jourdain, Vincent Riou, Yannick Bestaven, Thomas Coville, Pascal Bidégorry, and Sébastien Rogues
Lacking a sponsor since losing his Fujifilm in 2002, Loïck Peyron, who had already won in 1999, won again alongside skipper Jean-Pierre Dick in 2005 and pays tribute to the race: “The Transat Jacques Vabre effect was important and significant enough for me to be approached by boatowners and sponsors,” he says, referring to how – after his 2005 win - the Gitana team offered him an IMOCA 60-footer 2007 for his second Vendée Globe.
Five triple winners include four back in the race this year
Five skippers have achieved the hat-trick: Franck-Yves Escoffier, Erwan Le Roux, Antoine Carpentier, Charles Caudrelier and Yann Eliès. Besides Franck-Yves Escoffier, the others will be go for a fourth victory this year. That is the case for Yann Eliès who is setting off this year in IMOCA with Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa.
He remains very attached to the double-handed transatlantic race: “All these editions made me discover Le Havre and I am very attached to this city, to the story of Paul Vatine with Jean Maurel. The people from the Race Direction are from Le Havre, Francis Le Goff, Pierre Hays and they are outstanding organizers. In Le Havre, we are in good hands…”
A repeat win is often a reflection of sailors who dominated their class over a more extended period. This was particularly the case in the Ocean Fifty as with Franck-Yves Escoffier and Erwan Le Roux. The same can be said to be true for Franck Cammas in ORMA.
Others, like Jean-Pierre Dick, have made the double-handed Transat something of a specialism. If the Vendée Globe has never quite worked out for ‘JP’ as he wanted the has left his mark on the world of IMOCA with his regularity in the Coffee Route.
“In 2003, our victory established Farr yacht Design in the IMOCA world. Everyone came to see our boat which really had an advantage .” That was good for Farr as between 2003 and 2007, the Annapolis based office designed no less than seven 60-footers for the best skippers of the time.
Two quadruple winners,…
But Dick especially remembers from his Coffee Routes also for the variety of his teammates. The discreet Nicolas Abiven, who supervised the construction of Virbac in New Zealand, was then followed by Loïck Peyron in 2005: “I was surprised that he agreed to race alongside me. In fact, he was curious about monohulls and my boat because he had the next Vendée Globe in mind. He taught me a lot, he is a true mentor. I perfectly remember our very close finish in front of Bilou (Roland Joudain) and Ellen Mac Arthur. I was able to appreciate Loïck’s calmness while I was pumped up like an electric battery! »
His races are all different, “With Jérémie (Beyou) in 2011, it was different, we are both very stressed. But the victory was very beautiful because we won it in the storm, as a demonstration of force.”
In 2017, Dick’s last Coffee Route with Yann Eliès was all about experience: “The boat had done the Vendée Globe, we had confidence in it. With Yann, who is quite a strong character, we put pressure on our competitors from the start and it worked out”
But there is only Cammas who can hope for the quintuple
Franck Cammas is the only skipper who can register a fifth win this time. “I’m happy to go for a fifth victory, but I’m not really looking at this record aspect at all…” says Cammas drily, who won three times in the ORMA trimaran (2001, 2003 and 2007) and once in the ULTIM (2021).
Of course each victory is beautiful but Cammas happily remembers his first. “We had already won Québec Saint-Malo as a crew, but this Route du café was our first double-handed victory. I was racing with Steve Ravussin, whom I had met up with when we were on the 1998 Route du Rhum he was racing in a small Formula 40. I decided on that basis he must be solid! Our victory was all the more beautiful as it was not an easy transatlantic race. We stopped in the Canaries to repair the boat, we had to go around Ascension Island, it was also my first doldrums. The victory was decided on the last night. We beat Alain Gautier and Ellen Mac Arthur to the line, in fairly violent storm conditions. The arrival in Salvador de Bahia impressed me…”
This year Cammas is in the IMOCA class, lining up with Jérémie Beyou on Charal bound for Fort de France. They have just won the Azimut Lorient Agglomération Challenge aboard the black and red Manuard design, a real warm-up for the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre and are obviously among the favorites. “It’s very difficult to make a prediction,” says Cammas. “The level of a field depends a lot on the mass of competitors and the number of new boats. In the 2000s, there were many more trimarans. The premier class back in the day was the ORMA and today it is the IMOCA. They are spectacular, uncomfortable and difficult boats. It's going to be a big battle!”
