Transat Jacques Vabre: Quable still alongside Nicolas Jossier

On 7 November, 158 skippers aboard 79 boats, including 45 Class 40s (monohull racing and cruising yachts) set off on the legendary Transat Jacques Vabre from the Paul Vatine Basin in Le Havre.

A mythical race!

For its 15th edition, the coffee route is heading for the West Indies with the bay of Fort-de-France as its destination. With a passage by the Cape Verde for this category of sailboat, it is the longest and the most demanding race in duo considering the weather conditions!

The Transat Jacques Vabre in a few figures is :

• 1993: Creation of the Coffee Route.
• 4600 miles to cover for the Class 40s, 5800 for the Imoca and Ocean Fifty, 7500 for the Ultime.
• 79 boats from 4 different classes (5 Ultime, 22 Imoca, 7 Ocean Fifty and 45 Class40) with 3 distinct courses for a simultaneous finish.
• A record set in 2017 and held by Thomas Coville and Jean-Luc Nélias (Sodebo) in 7 days, 22 hours, 7 minutes and 27 seconds.

Quable still in the race with Nicolas Jossier!

Since the 2018 Route du Rhum, Quable has been associated with skipper Nicolas Jossier.
From a story of friendship between the founder of Quable, a sailing enthusiast, and the professional skipper; it is a collaboration that keeps the Quable teams buzzing.

Following a difficult personal journey and good results in his last competitions (6th in the Normandy Channel Race and 7th in the Rolex Fastnet Race), Nicolas Jossier has made a very good start to the race! After a week of Transat, half of which was spent leading the race, Nicolas and Alexis Loison are now heading for Cape Verde towards Martinique aboard their Class 40 #154 named "La Manche #Evidence Nautique".

Always focused on people and causes that are important to him, Nicolas wanted to work with sponsors who share his state of mind. Quable is proud to be a part of it and to support Nicolas and Alexis alongside "France Lymphome Espoir", "Le département de la Manche" and many other partners!
For Quable, this sponsorship is much more than a simple partnership, it is also a way to unite the teams around an extra-professional subject: whether it is through an explanation of their adventure and life on board or a visit to the monohull. A special system has been put in place on a daily basis internally to follow the adventure of our champion Nicolas step by step!

All of Quable supports Nicolas and wishes him the best of all rewards: Winning the coffee route!

A real virtual challenge

This year, the Transat Jacques Vabre integrates a fifth class of vessel: the Virtual Regata!
The objective is to reinforce the link between real and virtual navigation, which (without the physical effort) requires a high level of involvement as well as knowledge of the different marine strategies.

A team of sailors ready to carry Quable's colours to Martinique has been founded!
If you want to participate, it's not too late: Virtual Regata.

Logbook

• 07/11/2021: It's the big day! Nicolas and his duo set sail along the coast of Brittany.
• 08/11/2021 : After a dazzling start, Nicolas' Class 40 is in the top 3 places on the podium! Heading for the Pointe du Raz!
• 10/11/2021 : The Bay of Biscay is a success for our duo! After a successful strategy, the first place is now well established towards Cape Finisterre!

• 12/11/2021: What a race! At the level of Portugal, Nicolas is still in first place in this Transat with a slight lead thanks to the favourable winds! En route to the Canaries.
• 15/11/2021 : It's now been 2 days since Nicolas has been at the head of the race. In 5th position at the Canaries, he is still hanging on to the leader who is only a few miles ahead of him...

• 17/11/2021: It would seem that a cruising rhythm has been established towards Cape Verde! Nicolas and Alexis are still in 5th place and the ranking is almost unchanged! The weather conditions are very favourable for getting to the halfway marker which will indicate the route to take towards Martinique!

• 18/11/2021 : They are now off Cape Verde! The final stretch is now ahead of them with an expected arrival around November 30th. In terms of ranking, after the African descent in the leading group, our duo was caught up by confused weather, which allowed the latecomers to get back into the game. Nothing is decided, the road is still long...

• 21/11/2021 : After a difficult passage from Cape Verde, next stop Martinique! There is now only the expanse of ocean around our duo and the next land in sight is the Diamond Rock, a compulsory passage point before crossing the finish line. The monohull is now back in the leading group after a successful strategy to counter the bad conditions. What pride! This promises an intense end to the race...
  

• 23/11/2021 : With a few days to go before the finish, Nicolas and Alexis have to deal with sargassum, endemic seaweed that proliferates anarchically at sea and on the West Indian coastline. It clings to the monohull and causes a lot of trouble for the sailors, slowing them down. As for the race, the places are exchanged according to the wind. There are now about ten boats claiming the top spots, even if the pole position seems to be reserved for the crew of Volvo...., but the road is still long! Arrival scheduled for 30 November!
• 29/11/2021: Nicolas and Alexis finish 6th in the race in 22d 2h 25mn 7seconds after a thrilling finish! A big Bravo gentlemen for this magnificent regatta.