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08.11.2009
Départ du Havre



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Groupe Bel second as night falls

Costa Rica, here they come! After a week of dull grey weather at Le Havre, the sun came out to accompany the racers at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, this Sunday at 14:30. On board Groupe Bel, Kito de Pavant and his co-skipper, François Gabart, went it alone. The duo positioned themselves to the left of the sailing area to be able to catch the breeze, a little less established to the north and less disrupted by the other boats. Contacted by VHF a few minutes after the start, the Mediterranean skipper was satisfied. At the 17:00 hour ranking, Sébastien Josse, on BT, was leading the fleet, followed by Groupe Bel and Mike Golding Yacht Racing.

"The idea is not to take risks at the start and to keep good timing. The starting line looked favourable towards the Race Committee Boat and we really wanted to catch a breeze straight away. It went well. We managed to pull away just before the other boats completely masked the wind, and then everything went well. The wind strengthened and veeed to the right, which is not particularly advantageous for the moment, but, all in all, we are happy, because we wanted to be “safe’ on the starting line and keep good timing. It’s great and in addition we are leaving with the sun. It’s a great start, as we are used to seeing at Le Havre. We are trying to make good headway. There’s a small manoeuvre we can do straight away to lose the other boats, get away from the disturbance they cause and speed up, so everything is going well for the moment!"

The wind will strengthen towards the end of the day and into the night, which means they will soon be out of the Channel. It will ease off again at the tip of Brittany. The programme for the following days is not very encouraging with a succession of three low fronts between Tuesday and Friday.

In brief:

Transat Jacques Vabre 2009: 9th race since 1993 (every 2 years)
Le Havre – Puerto Limon on the East Coast of Costa Rica: 4,730 nautical miles (8,759 km) leaving the Dominican Republic to starboard
Kito de Pavant's 5th time taking part: 5th in 2001 (Bernard Gallay), 11th in 2003 and 3rd in 2005 (Jean Le Cam), 6th in 2007 (Sébastien Col)
1st participation of François Gabart (youngest of the fleet)
Groupe Bel monohull: VPLP-Verdier design, launched on 6 September 2007 in Italy
Sunday 8 November at 14:30 Start from Le Havre for the monohulls (multihulls at 14:00)

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