Karver and the Transat Jacques vabre
Transat Jacques Vabre skippers have now all arrived in Martinique. Beyond the still very high Karver equipment rate of the fleet, the race was marked by a soft weather, little damage, little retirements but also by the participation of our talented engineer Guillaume Pirouelle aboard the Class 40 Clown Hop (19th out of 45). Our NOT less talented colleague Jean Philippe Connan was present on arrival in a very tense political, social and health context to welcome the fleet and make the first technical reviews.
The race
The Transat Jacques-Vabre (TJV), also called the Route du café is a double-handed transatlantic race (crews of two sailors) which has taken place every two years since 1993. Depending on the year, it is open to Imocas monohulls, andClass40 as well as multihulls Multi50,ORMA,MOD 70WhereUltimate. (Wikipedia).
Find the results of the 15 editions on the Wikipedia page of the TJV.
The race leaves from Le Havre (Normandy / France) to reach the CARIBBEAN. Regarding the Imoca Class, this is the first transatlantic after the Vendée Globe. For many skippers, this race is therefore the 1st with their new boat. The double-handed format allows machines to be pushed and new talent to be revealed.
Karver & the TJV
The 18 short kilometers that separate the Havre basin and Karver’s head office in Honfleur make this race an important event for us. Just like the Route du Rhum, the TJV is also the race where the most equipped Karver boats run : the Ultims, the Imocas, the Class40, the Ocean 50.
Equipment manufacturers like to highlight the good results of boats fitted with their products. We are not escaping this practice while being perfectly aware that victory is the result of a large amount of technical details, very long teamwork and of course the talent of the skippers.
Karver is present in the heart of the “Sailing Valley” at Lorient La Base, but that does not prevent us from carrying out some operations at each start. This year, we spent more than 30 hours doing the last technical checks on the boats.
An eventful arrival
Our sales engineer Jean Philippe Connan (JP) was also present on arrival in Martinique for a week in order to welcome the greatest number of participants.
The festivities were largely marred by demonstrations related to the health crisis. The boats stayed away and several of them left quickly to reach the calmer waters of the bay of Lorient.
Champagne !
The technical review is very positive. On one hand, Jean Philippe did not even have to take out his toolbox ! On the other hand, he had the opportunity to bring out the champagne since several teams have officially chosen us to equip their new boats with furlers, hooks, jammers, blocks, …. Thank you to each of them for their trust.
Bravo to Guillaume
Our engineer Guillaume Pirouelle had the chance to board the Class40 Clown Hop with Renaud Courbon before taking the helm of his Figaro 3 “Normandy Region” of which he is the new official skipper. Renaud & Guillaume were supposed to start on a brand new boat but it was damaged during transport between South Africa and France. As much to say to you that in this edition with moderate winds, a new more efficient fairing would have been very appreciated. They finish 19th out of 45.
Technical developments
Karver remains on the go and we have worked on several files in the last few months : an ultra-optimized version of our KFR furler and our KFH external hook (lighter, more compact, more resistant, etc, …). An EcoConcept furler version without compromising on performance. An evolution of our very carbon high load KJ jammers and 2 other still confidential subjects which should make noise and continue to help the teams to move towards even more performance.
NEXT….
The next big race which will bring together all the classes is the Route du Rhum in November 2022. Until then, we will remain alongside the teams more than ever.
More pictures on our Facebook page:
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