Artemis Ocean Racing IMOCA 60. Image copyright Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images.
by Artemis Ocean Racing
One transatlantic race 'done and dusted' for the Artemis Ocean Racing team as Ollie Bond completed the solo Mini Transat on board his tiny 21-foot Artemis Mini, finishing in 10th place overall.
Meanwhile, Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet, co-skippers on board Artemis Ocean Racing's 60-foot IMOCA monohull arrived in Le Havre (France) last night with ten days to go until the start of their 4,720-mile transatlantic race from Le Havre to Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.
The duo of top British IMOCA 60 sailor Samantha Davies, who has been nominated for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Award, and French skipper Sidney Gavignet, will be racing against the very best in the IMOCA 60 class in the pinnacle event of the year that starts on Sunday, 8th November. They left Port La Foret on Tuesday after weeks of meticulous preparation as Artemis skipper, Sam Davies, reported: “We left Port La Foret yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), heading for Le Havre and the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre! The conditions were great and we set off under spinnaker hooning along at 20+knots of boat speed, which is pretty unusual for a delivery trip! We took the “coastal route” and passed through the Raz de Sein and Channel du Four, which was fun as we had to gybe a lot to get through the narrow passages. Good gybing practice in the dark in 20+knots of wind!
“There are three of us on board - Erwan, Sidney and I - so we have also done a lot of “bunk testing” and the competition is hot for the ‘golden blanket’ award! It is wonderful to get great sleep as Artemis is zooming along, and Sidney and I are making the most of it, as we will not have that luxury for the first few days (or more) of the race!
“We have even eaten well, thanks to Sidney, who was tasked to do the food shopping for the trip - always dubious to leave that task in male hands I think!”
This weekend Sam and Sidney will compete in the Transat Jacques Vabre prologue in Le Havre for the ‘Trophee Ville du Havre Paul Vatine’ - the TJV skippers competing in the prologue will race on board Bénéteau 7.5 boats. Then the Artemis Ocean Racing skippers will have a couple of days off before they are back in ‘pre-race’ mode, studying the weather, going over their final preparations and dealing with many media requests as they countdown to start day.
Artmeis Ocean Racing
Transat Jacques Vabre
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