2015 TJV - 35 miles to finish and it is a Class 40 Cliffhanger

by Transat Jacques Vabre on 19 Nov 2015 With only a few hours of racing left for the two duelists scrapping over top honours in Class40 on the Transat Jacques Vabre, Yannick Bestaven and Pierre Brasseur are clinging to a nine miles lead with just 37 miles left to race to the finish line in Itajaí, Brazil. Their opposition, Maxime Sorel and Sam Manuard, are in a strong position, to the north and east of the long time race leaders and at 1700hrs UTC were sailing slightly quicker.

The outcome of the Class40 remains in the balance. The key for the Le Conservateur duo, Bestaven and Brasseur, will be to keep their nerve in the downwind conditions, mixing the need to sail the best VMG angles in the 12kts NE breeze which might go ahead as they close to the line this afternoon and evening (In Brazil). But for sure as much part of the battle for the leaders will be get across the finish line before the nocturnal shut down in the wind. Local estimates have the winners crossing the finish line around 2100hrs UTC. But weather analysts will only confirm that breezes on the actual finish zone will be light and capricious. There is less than an hour of difference between Le Conservateur and V and B.

Further back up the Brazilian coast, 400Nms NE of Rio, the all Brazilian duo of Eduardo Penido and Renato Araujo on Zetra are sixth, holding a good lead now over the girls on Concise 2, Philippa Hutton-Squire and Pip Hare. The girls reported this morning that they had seen the masthead light of Groupe Setin. The Concise co-skippers have gybed, closing to the coast but have exactly the same distance to finish as their French rivals, Manuel Cousin and Gérard Quéouron. They have less 900 miles to the finish.

Pierre Brasseur (FRA) co-skipper Le Conservateur

“It is complicated. We do not really know what is happening so all we do is try to go fast. We have had stronger winds than we expected but it is expected to ease. We don’t really know if our position is better than V and B. We are a bit stressed. They are always coming back at us. We had a reef in the main and small kite. We have grey skies and drizzle, it is more like home in Brittany than Brazil.”