The sailing calendar is about to heat up again with one of the preeminent ocean races poised to get underway from the north coast of France bound for the tropical waters of Brazil. The Transat Jacques Vabre, a bi-annual event for Open 50 and 60 multi and monohulls is due to start the weekend of November 5 and 6, and the Gryphon Solo team is gearing up to bring you a series of exciting updates from on board as skipper Joe Harris and his talented crew, Josh Hall, compete against the worlds elite shorthanded sailors.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is a 4,500 mile sprint the length of the Atlantic sailed double-handed, and for this 7th edition of the race Joe Harris has teamed up with British sailor Josh Hall to compete aboard his Open 50 monohull Gryphon Solo. The TJV, as it's more commonly known, is one further step toward Joe's ultimate goal; competing in the VELUX 5 Oceans race, a single-handed around-the-world race due to start from Bilboa, Spain on October 22, 2006.
Over the next few weeks there will updates, analysis and audio files available in your inbox and on the web at www.gryphonsolo.com. Our goal is to immerse you in the action as Joe and Josh reengage with their nemesis Artforms and duke it out with four other boats in their class in a head-to-head battle all the way to Brazil. The Gryphon Solo commentator will be again be veteran ocean racer Brian Hancock, fresh from a stint in the Middle East where he was Communications Director for the Oryx Quest 2005 non-stop around-the-world race, and ready to bring you action and analysis as Joe, Josh and the rest of Transat Jacques Vabre crews sail the tough course to South America.
Sign up at www.gryphonsolo.com to receive the updates, but also plan on visiting the website on a regular basis. Audio files and images will be posted as often as satellite technology allows. Meanwhile stand by for the first two updates, a piece about the history of the TJV and one about the dynamic Gryphon Solo crew. There will also be a piece by Joe scheduled to be sent as soon as he arrives in France. It's time to go sailing again.... we hope that you enjoy the ride.
