STRONG BREW

THIS AUTUMN'S BIG OCEAN RACE, THE TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR, LIVED UP TO ITS FEARSOME REPUTATION

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Shortly after 10. 30 in the evening on Saturday, 25 October, French team mates Erwan Le Draoulec and Tanguy Le Turquais found themselves upside down in a capsized trimaran in 30-knot winds with the waters of the English Channel rising inside their boat.

Though Le Turquais says there was no panic on board, fear did momentarily take hold as air inside their smashed Ocean Fifty became scarce, and the pair realised the aft hatch was blocked by bags.

“It lasted five or 10 seconds maybe, but they felt like hours,” recounted a shocked Le Turquais. “I was thinking: we’re going to drown here like a couple of idiots.”

Fortunately, both were rescued safely, along with four more competitors, in a hectic few hours of incidents.

THE COFFEE ROUTE

If it’s an odd-numbered year, the nights are drawing in and there are dramatic mid-Atlantic rescues of multihull sailors hitting the headlines, it must mean the race across the Atlantic which follows the ‘coffee route’ is underway.

For its 17th edition the double-handed offshore classic switched its name from the Transat Jacques Vabre to become the Transat Café L’Or, thanks to the French coffee giant which supports the race from Normandy, northern France, to Martinique in the Caribbean.

Otherwise the blend has changed little. The docks in Le Havre welcomed four divisions: four Ultims; a record fleet of 10 Ocean Fifty trimarans; 18 IMOCAs (the reduced numbers reflecting the post-Vendée Globe season); and 42 Class 40s of all vintages.