Whilst the racers who have just completed a double-handed transatlantic, are adamant that they are going to sail at their own pace and preserve their boat, we have no doubt that as soon as the start is given off the Salvador de Bahia Yacht Club, late morning on Thursday 29th November, the fifteen solo sailors will pass into ‘race’ mode and not willingly give away a metre until the finish in Forêt-Fouesnant, North West France… The truth is that several of the solo sailors are still hungry after the Transat Jacques Vabre: the weather conditions of this double-handed transatlantic were rather mild (with the exception of the passage of Cape Finisterre with 40 knots of wind) with less than twenty knots of breeze, which was essentially sailed on a reach or downwind. For this pre-winter return race, the competitors can expect conditions to be a lot more severe when they have to negotiate an Atlantic depression between the Azores and Brittany, France!

Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada)
“This ECOVER BtoB transat is the first race for Spirit of Canada so we're very excited to be here and to be doing the race because, other than being a qualifier for the Vendee Globe of course, we’re very interested to see how the boat will do in relation to all the new boats. It’s good for us as we have a big programme. Basically the boat is a development of Ecover II (after Ecover II but before Temenos II and Ecover III). They have moved on generation as well as we started building in Canada in 2006. As a result of some slow sponsorship it took us about 15 months to build. The boat has turned out perfectly though. We brought in a team of builders from France and New Zealand and the US. I’m very happy with the boat. We now have 5000 miles on the boat and the boat is working fine. After seeing all the boats here after the Transat Jacques Vabre we've got some good ideas so over the winter we'll try and make the boat lighter and faster. This will be the first time that I've sailed onboard this boat single-handed in a race as there were three of us onboard sailing from Canada. There are a number of opportunities to qualify for the Vendee and this is the first one, but I’m very interested in doing this race, as it’s the last section of the Vendee Globe, between here and France and conditions will be similar. This will be a race and we have lots of good competition and good boats. I don't expect to do very well but we'll see how it goes. I know the area of Port La Foret but I've never sailed there before so I'm looking forward to seeing it again.”

Yannick Bestaven (Cervin enR)
“I’m not really looking at performance on the way back but simply to qualify for the round the world: I want to ensure that I make it to Port La Forêt. It will still be an important race for me because it is the first time I have raced solo on such a boat: I will have to face my problems head on so it's a good way of getting into the Vendée Globe… Linking two transatlantic races in so little time has already given me an idea of what’s in store for me next year! It’s physically hard on the skipper and the boat…”

Yann Eliès (Generali)
“It’s good to round off the season with a double handed race which is similar to the start of the Vendée Globe followed by another single-handed transatlantic race, which is like the end of the round the world… Same conditions, same trajectories, same fleet (to within about ten boats) as those at the start in Les Sables d’Olonne next year! It will be a good way to sort out what work needs to be done over the winter, about the capacities of each boat and each skipper. It is a totally free course, which gives us more liberty in our weather choices, as will be the case for the Vendée Globe.”

Translation Kate Jennings