Today, at 1pm GMT, British yachtswoman Dee Caffari and Nigel King, onboard Open 60 yacht Aviva, crossed the Transat Jacques Vabre start line off the coast of Le Havre, France.
Today, at 1pm GMT, British yachtswoman Dee Caffari and Nigel King, onboard Open 60 yacht Aviva, crossed the Transat Jacques Vabre start line off the coast of Le Havre, France.
The skipper of Aviva, racing alongside experienced campaigner Nigel King, will be making her penultimate voyage onboard her 10-year old yacht before she takes delivery of her brand new Open 60, currently being built in New Zealand.
The weather forecast favours a speedy passage, with an opportunity to break the 13 day and nine hour monohull record. However, as an older generation yacht among a fleet of brand new super-fast contenders, four of which have never raced before, Caffari is approaching her first Transat Jacques Vabre with a sense of perspective.
"I am being realistic in my aims because many of the other boats are complete weapons and I have a 10 year-old boat. I am using this race as a means of boosting my confidence ahead of The Transat B2B solo race back to Brittany where obviously I will have no one else to rely on if I make a mistake. But my aim is to have fun. There's no point doing it unless you enjoy yourself," she said on the dockside at the Paul Vatin basin in Le Havre, just hours before the start of her 4,340-mile sprint across the Atlantic.
"We'll be making our own race against the boats of the same generation and I've pitched where I want to be in the fleet. I have targeted who my immediate rivals are and which boats I would like to beat," Dee said.
Dee will be setting her sights on fellow Brits Sam Davies onboard Roxy and Jonny Malbon on Artemis. The teams have already had some close racing this summer and the first ocean race will test all the competitors. As well as the other British boats, Dee and Nigel will be keeping a keen eye out for CervinEnR, raced by French sailors Yannick Bestaven and Ronan Guerin plus Great America 3, the ex-Solidaires campaigned by North American duo Rich Wilson and Mike Birch.
To follow Caffari and King's progress in the Transat Jacques Vabre race and to view Dee's video diary entries log on to www.avivaoceanracing.com.
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For further information contact:
Caroline Ayling
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2840
Mobile: +44 (0)7801 351950
E-mail: carolinea@karen-earl.co.uk
Kelly Russell
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2862
Mobile: 07786 516570
E-mail: kellyr@karen-earl.co.uk
Notes to editors:
All skippers taking part in the 2007 race signed the Transat Jacques Vabre Charter for Sustainable Development. The five main aims of the Charter are:
- Promote the values of sailing
- Reduce the ecological footprint of the Transat Jacques Vabre event
- Encourage everyone involved to commit towards creating a responsible event
- Encourage the public to engage with the challenges of sustainable development
- Develop the local dynamics and North-South relations.
Aviva plc
Aviva is the leading provider of life and pensions to Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's fifth largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2006.
Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes images, company and product information and a news release archive.
- Further information on Dee Caffari and her Aviva Ocean Racing campaign can be found at www.avivaoceanracing.com
- Further information on Nigel King can be found at www.nigelkingyachting.com