Last week, we grabbed the Class 40, Fortissimo and set sail from Gosport and headed to Le Havre for the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is a 4800 nautical mile race from Le Havre in France to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil, mimicking the old coffee routes of the 17th century merchant ships. Jacques Vabre was created originally under the brand name Mexicq in 1924 by Marcel Denamiel from Montpellier, but was later renamed in 1968 after his son in law, Jacques Vabre took over the business.
In 1993, the TJV was morphed from its original single-handed format to a double handed race, and today hosts 4 classes from the epic Ultime trimarans to the smallest boats, the Class 40.
Sadly we didn’t do much sailing on the way over. We proudly left Gosport and popped the massive A2 spinnaker up and started cruising our way towards France in a lovely 8 knot breeze. This however was short-lived… 20 minutes later, we found ourselves floating around Bembridge and having to take the spinnaker back down…
Some things just aren’t meant to be….
The poor little donkey (engine) was on pretty much the entire way to France, which I’m sure was a shock to it as it’s pretty much used for parking, and thats it!!
That however wasn’t the only slight cock-up… Some absolute muppet left her Dubarry boots in the car keeping the front seat warm , which of course led to much hilarity once we got to France and could find the nearest Decathlon…
Originally this is a race had been on the cards for HSR, but sadly things weren’t meant to be, and the funding wasn’t in place to make the race a reality for us. Still, that didn’t mean we couldn’t go and grab a huge slice of inspiration from the race, and promise ourselves to be on the start line for the next edition.
I’m really glad we went over to see the start; the french really know how to run events, and the race village was nothing short of epic. I can’t wait to be a part of it, and of course bigger things in the future!!
Massive thanks to Dream or Two, especially James and apprentice Cat for lending us the boat, as well as the entertainment and the fun sailing, and of course a big huge thanks to Media Kat, now part of the HSR team, for keeping me smiling and wearing the right things, including a bra and keeping me confident and focused on the #singlehandedsinglehanded journey.
Onwards and upwards xx
SAILING HANNAH 
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