How to follow the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023

Toby Heppell

The Transat Jacques Vabre 2023 is set to begin on Sunday 29 October and, once again, looks set to be a thrilling offshore race with some of the most high-tech offshore boats in the world set to compete

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The Transat Jacques Vabre is one of the ultimate tests of short-handed racing, a double-handed dash from France that sees many of the world’s top racing machines take on the North Atlantic in often brutal winter conditions. The Transat Jacques Vabre 2023 will start on Sunday, 29 October almost exactly 30 years after the first edition of the event back in 1993.

The Transat Jacques Vabre is now 30 years old, having first run in 1993 and every two years since, though the concept of the route is far older – the race course traces the historic coffee trading routes between France and Brazil used by clipper ships in the 19th century, providing the event its alternate title, ‘the coffee race’.

After starting in Le Harve, this year the finish is now in Martinique in the Caribbean, as opposed to the old finish in South America, with a mid-Atlantic turning mark of Trindade, off Rio de Janeiro, added for the fastest Ultime trimarans bringing their race distance up to 7,500 miles.

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Meanwhile the Ocean 50 multihulls and IMOCA 60s will round a mark off the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, in a nod to the race’s historical destination, covering around 5,800 miles, and the Class 40s pass the Cape Verdes before heading to Martinque, around 4,600 miles.

However, the race is often decided in the opening miles, with the Bay of Biscay in late October/early November often delivering brutal, sometimes boat-breaking conditions.

How to follow the Transat Jaques Vabre

For this 16th edition, the Transat Jacques Vabre is putting in place some special arrangements for television coverage to enable as many people as possible to watch the start as it happens.

The start of the coffee race can be watched live across Europe on the Eurosport International digital platform, or on TV in Switzerland via RTS, in Germany on NDR, in the Balkans on Sport Klub and Sport TV and in the Baltic states andEastern Europe via the Sia Media Group.

Thanks to the distribution network developed by A.S.O., the start can even be seen elsewhere around the world on Mondovision, as it will be broadcast on Supersport and Startimes, which cover 52 areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, on Dubai Sport throughout the Middle East, on Fox in Australia, Solar Sport in the Philippines, Sport5 in Israel and on SportsMax in the Caribbean.

After the start, the regular shows produced by the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie le Havre will also be broadcast around the world.

In Europe, Eurosport International will show these programmes in 54 countries. They will also be broadcast by twenty Europena broadcasters, including Abola in Portugal, Sport10 in Belgium, Nova Sport in Greece, Turk Telekom in Turkey and on the German channel, More Than Sport.

The shows will be also be shown in Africa, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S., South America, China, Australia, New Zealand and S.E. Asia.

Finally, various international channels such as TV5 Monde (daily clips and 52-minute long round-up) in French, CNBC (52-minute long roundup) and Edge Sport (Live and 52-minute long round-up) in English, will complete the arrangements enabling the Transat Jacques Vabre to be seen in 190 countries.

You will also be able to follow latest race developments, including the live tracker, at: transatjacquesvabre.org

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