The Transat

Offshore Challenges Events unveil their new race

Over 40 years ago, in part spurred on by a gentleman's wager, Sir Francis Chichester, Blondie Haslar and three other skippers set out to race solo from Plymouth to New York. This course was widely described as impossible - against the prevailing winds and currents, and deep into the iceberg-ridden and stormy North Atlantic. Arriving in New York 40 days later, an exhausted Sir Francis Chichester made history and the first ever single-handed trans-ocean race was born.

Four years later, the race was won by the enigmatic Frenchman Eric Tabarly, earning him the Legion d'Honneur, presented to him by de Gaulle. This was to kickstart France's enduring love affair with sailing.

In May 2004, the 12th edition of the race will be managed by Offshore Challenges Events (OCE), and as one of their first moves the race has been renamed "The Transat": "In its 40 year history this race has retained some identity with the word 'STAR', but many forms of this have been used over the years," said Mark Turner, CEO of Offshore Challenges Events. "It has led to much confusion as the name has evolved in different ways from its original name, The OSTAR, to the last edition in 2000 as the Europe1 NewMan STAR with a number of variations in-between. We wanted to create a definitive name and as in France the race has been called the "La Transat Anglaise", we have decided to simplify the issue by just calling it "The Transat". It is the first-ever solo ocean race: the toughest, the fastest, the original. The event will always be the one that was established as the OSTAR in 1960, and we intend to continue to communicate that. Of course we hope to involve a title sponsor, but regardless this new name should move the event on from the string of different STAR names - which no-one was keen to continue after 2000's Europe1 NewMan STAR"

"Beyond this change however", continues Turner, "we intend to protect and communicate the character and history of this great race. Following the spirit of Blondie Hasler's famous quote "one man, one boat, the sea" we have chosen to keep the single start and a straightforward course". In doing so we leave as many tactical options as possible open to the skippers. The change of finish line to Boston Harbour will change little in terms of the route across the ocean (compared with Newport), but will add another chapter to the great history of this race. Boston was the home port of the founding father of solo sailing, Joshua Slocum, the first person to ever sail around the world alone. The Slocum Society was a supporter of the very first OSTAR."

As the first ever single-handed trans-ocean race, it has been the event to do for every up and coming solo sailor - all the Greats have competed, from both France and the Anglo-Saxon world. In addition - as "a French diamond on an English ring" as Loick Peyron, two-times race winner, put it recently - the event is almost unique in the modern day sporting world, in having an equally strong French and British history. The FA Cup, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Paris-Dakar, the Grand National - most of the big events don't manage to translate their image or history across the Channel in the way The Transat has done over the past 40 years.

A new visual identity and communication plan will be launched in December to help convey this theme and the great history of the event.

Newport, Rhode Island has been the finish point for every race edition since the first race in 1960, that finished in New York. This year however, as part of a drive to ensure the race would meet and exceed the expectations of the 40 or so fully-professional and semi-pro racing campaigns, a full evaluation of alternative finish venues was undertaken, resulting in the eventual selection of Boston as the finish venue.

Boston has the infrastructure in place to cope with the record number of 60 foot long (and in the case of the trimarans, 60 foot wide) boats expected to compete in "The Transat" in 2004, something that was not evident in Newport. The solo sailors will finish on a line right in front of downtown Boston, the same place that the monohulls finished in 2001 on the EDS Atlantic Challenge. Rowes Wharf will provide great berthing facilities for the entire fleet, as well as shore-side space for the competitors' support teams. In addition, the Boston Harbour Hotel has offered its excellent media and hospitality facilities for VIPs, the media and sponsors.

"Boston is the ideal race destination given the short-lead times we have to organise "The Transat" said Mark Turner. "We believe the decision will benefit all our stakeholders - the competitors, their sponsors, their shore teams and our race partners. The support from Boston Harbour Hotel in particular was a key factor in our decision, taken after an extensive trip to various locations on the east coast earlier this month"

The Notice of Race for the "The Transat" 2004 has been issued to potential competitors and is available either as a download from the (under construction) website http://www.thetransat.com or through application direct to OCE (entries@thetransat.com). The deadline for entries for the 2004 race is 31 January 2004.

Key elements of the Notice of Race are as follows:

"The Transat" will run four classes: IMOCA Open 60 monohulls, ORMA Open 60 multihulls, Class 2 Multihulls (48.1 foot to 50 foot) and Class 2 Monohulls (48.1 foot to 50 foot).

"The Transat" is included in the race calendars of the ORMA Multihull Championship and the IMOCA Monohull Championship. In addition, points will count towards the FICO Lacoste World Championship for skippers and team sponsors.

"The Transat" will start from Plymouth on 31 May 2004, a Bank Holiday in both the UK and France. The initial course will see the boats passing Eddystone Light to starboard before rounding a race mark off the Lizard to port - next stop, downtown Boston.
As an indication of the challenge facing the solo skippers, the race committee has reserved the right to add a 'gate' or other race mark if the pre-race iceberg reports pose a greater than normal threat to the fleet.

"The Transat" will be presented to potential competitors and their shore teams during the build-up week to another great transatlantic race, the Transat Jacques Vabre. "We have had to make a great number of difficult decisions in a short space of time, but have managed to consult a good number of stakeholders including IMOCA, ORMA and AIACC (association of boat owners/sponsors). The search is now on for sponsors and partners to develop the media and promotional aspects of the event", said Mark Turner.

Event sponsors are vital of course to ensure the "The Transat" can be run and communicated to the high standards required by the ORMA and IMOCA classes, and to engage the widest possible audience in this extraordinary event. We want to recreate the enthusiasm surrounding the historic victories of Sir Francis Chichester and Eric Tabarly - our key objective is to share this heritage with many people as possible on both sides of the Channel, and across the North Atlantic to the United States."