The Artemis Transat - the form guide

In Plymouth editor James Boyd reviews the form for the 'classic' solo transatlantic race

Friday May 9th 2008, Author: James Boyd, Location: United Kingdom
Boat Skipper Nat Age Designer Builder Launched ex Skipper Boat Tot
Open 60s
Foncia Michel Desjoyeaux FRA 42 Farr Yacht Design CDK Composite 2007 10 10 20
Gitana Eighty Loick Peyron FRA 49 Farr Yacht Design Southern Ocean Marine 2007 10 10 20
PRB Vincent Riou FRA 35 Farr Yacht Design CDK Composite 2006 9 10 19
BT Sebastien Josse FRA 33 Farr Yacht Design OC  2007 Estrella Damm 9 9 18
Safran Marc Guillemot FRA 48 VPLP/Verdier Thierry Eluere 2007 7 9 16
Generali Yann Elies FRA 34 Finot-Conq Multiplast 2007 8 8 16
Brit Air Armel le Cleac'h FRA 31 Finot-Conq Multiplast 2007 8 8 16
Roxy Sam Davies GBR 33 Finot-Conq 1998 PRB 8 5 13
Akena Verandas Arnaud Boissieres FRA 35 Finot-Conq Thierry Eluere 1998 Sodebo, VMI 7 4 11
Cervin EnR Yannick Bestaven FRA 35 Finot-Conq Thierry Eluere 1996 Aquitaine Innovations 7 3 10
Aviva Dee Caffari GBR 35 Owen-Clarke Hakes Marine 2007 3 8 11
Pakea Bizkaia 2009 Unai Basurko SPA 35 Andy Dovell Kanga Birtles 4 5 9
Spirit of Weymouth Steve White GBR 36 Finot-Conq JMV Industries 1998 Gartmore 3 2 5
 
Open 60s

Neck and neck favourites must be Loick Peyron and Michel Desjoyeaux. Both skippers are not only formidably successfully solo sailors, but particularly on this race course. During the 1990s Peyron was twice a winner of the race (in 1992 and 1996) board his Fujicolor 60ft trimarans, while Desjoyeaux won the Transat four years ago, also aboard three hulls in the ORMA 60 class.

Despite both skippers having moved into the IMOCA class, both racing Farr designs, neither seems to have lost their competitive edge – Desjoyeaux won the Transat Jacques Vabre last year aboard his Foncia, while weeks later Peyron took the top spot in the singlehanded return race, the Ecover Transat B2B on his Gitana Eighty. Both have previous experience in IMOCA 60s. If we were forced to choose between them we would probably err in favour of MichDes simply because he has had more experience more recently in the class. And yet there is the old adage ‘it is better to be lucky than good’ and Peyron is both notorious for being both lucky AND good.



He may have suffered a blemish on his other immaculate sailing CV when the top of the mast broke on his PRB during the Barcelona World Race, but Vincent Riou we rank close behind the lead duo. It is possibly a bit rough to give a Vendee Globe winner a ‘9’ score rather than a 10, but Riou lacks the 20 years of solo offshore racing experience the two front runners have. PRB is a direct sistership of Foncia and is certainly every bit as on the pace.

Close behind Riou we reckon will be Sebastien Josse in OC’s own BT-sponsored 60. Having already campaigned an IMOCA 60 VMI to fifth place in the last Vendee Globe, Josse has since grown further as a sailor after he skippered ABN AMRO Two in the last Volvo Ocean Race. Since taking over the BT boat this year (after it too pulled out of the Barcelona World Race is its previous guise of Estrella Damm) Josse has applied his magic, refitting the boat in Lorient and will be keen to demonstrate his ability in his new boat.



After this the form becomes a little grey. In terms of the light downwind forecast Marc Guillemot and Safran could be higher up the ranking. The boat is believed to be the lightest of the crop of new IMOCA 60s, but we think Guillemot as a solo skipper may not quite as competitive as his younger rivals. Had the forecast been for a typical Transat upwind slog in heinous conditions, then we would also probably rank Yann Elies and his Generali higher. To date neither Generali not former Solitaire du Figaro winner Armel le Cleac’h’s BritAir have proved themselves against the opposition on the race course, despite these being two of the most talented and experienced skippers of their generation.



Beyond this we get into the realms of the older boats. Best of these is certainly Sam Davies and Roxy, the former PRB, winner of the last two Vendee Globes. Sam is personally much capped as a solo sailor having competed in the Mini and been part of the French Figaro school in Port la Foret for several years.

Arnaud Boissieres and Yannick Bestaven, both former sparring partners from the Mini class, we rank more or less equally. Both are top sailors but are sailing fairly ancient boats. Last year Bestaven's Cervin proved a little off the pace compared to her rival.

Into this mix we add Dee Caffari. Unquestionably her new boat, Aviva, being a direct sistership of Mike Golding’s Ecover has winning potential, but Dee, despite receiving much deserved adulation for becoming the first woman to sail non-stop around the world against the prevailing winds, lacks competitive experience racing shorthanded offshore. However she is learning fast - just how fast we will see when she reaches Boston.

Unai Basurko and his Australian designed Open 60 took part in the Velux 5 Oceans round the world race with stops. Basurko’s performance in that race was erratic, and it will be interesting to see how much he has learned from this experience. The indications are that neither boat nor skipper are in the same league as the highly experienced, heavily trained French.

Steve White and Spirit of Weymouth are an 11th hour event in the Artemis Transat. White is still attempting to hook that elusive sponsor that will enable him to compete in the Vendee Globe later this year. The British skipper is still relatively green compared to the competition and he is sailing the 2000 generation Gartmore, previously campaigned by Josh Hall.
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