Organised by the municipality of Le Havre and the Normandy region, the Transat Jacques Vabre, also called La Route du Café (“The Coffee Route”), is a two-handed transatlantic regatta that has been held every two years since 1993.
Departure from Le Havre, in France, mandatory passage to Cape Verde and arrival on the island of Martinique, in the Caribbean: the Transat Jacques Vabre, with its 4,600 miles of navigation, is the longest transat, and is considered one of the most demanding regattas on the sailing calendar. The course, highly technical and adjusted for the different participating classes, will take skippers from Fort-de-France to Martinique via the waters of the Bay of Biscay, the equator, and the equatorial calm zone – called “Doldrum” by the British and “Pot au Noir” by the French – that is, an area of low pressure located just above the equator, between the trade winds of the two hemispheres, characterised by winds that vary in terms of both direction and intensity.
Now in its 16th edition, in 2023 the Transat Jacque Vabre celebrates its 30th anniversary and counts over 100 registered boats in the IMOCA, Ocean Fifty and Class40 classes.
