#TransatJV – Kerry's Damian Foxall will use this week's Irish stop of the Route des Princes Multihull race to announce his next International offshore sailing campaign.
The new venture by the Irish Volvo Ocean race winner and his French skipper Sidney Gavignet is expected to be confirmation of an Omani sponsored entry into November's Jacques Vabre Transat race, but details are under wraps until Foxall reaches home waters.
Foxall and Gavignet are currently at sea, plotting a course into Dublin Bay and Dun Laoghaire early on Wednesday morning, as leaders in the MOD 70 division of the Route des Princes round Europe race.
The two handed announcement – if confirmed – marks a return to a race for the Irishman that ended badly for Foxall eight years ago in the grip of an Atlantic storm when sailing with co-skipper Armel Le Cléac'h in a 60-foot trimaran that capsized.
Foxall was hospitalised after being airlifted from the Foncia trimaran, 450 miles off the coast of France when his 2005 bid for race honours in the famous transatlantic race went horribly wrong.
Foxall put the accident behind him and three years later went on to win a stunning international double–handed victory in the 2008 Barcelona round the world race with Jean-Pierre Dick, a French skipper also bidding for Jaques Vabre honours this November.
Details of the 20th edition of the Le Havre based race are to be announced at a press conference on Friday at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. Co. Dublin, the base for the multi's Dublin stop–over.
November's biennial Transat Jacques Vabre follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil.
The course was drawn up back in 1993 to follow in the wake of the clippers transporting coffee from Brazil to France.
The event is open to multihulls and monohulls from the following classes: ORMA, IMOCA, Class 2 Monohulls,Open 50 Class and Class40. There is currently no Oman entry on the Transat Jacques Vabre site, but Team Oman are now listing the transat event on its 2013 programme.
Storms caused havoc for the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre fleet, survival became the name of the game after seven separate incidents including the capsizes of Foncia and Orange Project triggered a major Atlantic air-sea rescue operation.
Official PR:
Oman Air-Musandam skipper Sidney Gavignet has selected Irishman Damian Foxall as his co-skipper on the Oman Sail MOD70 trimaran in the two-handed 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre in November.
Oman Air-Musandam skipper Sidney Gavignet has selected Irishman Damian Foxall as his co-skipper on the Oman Sail MOD70 trimaran in the two-handed 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre in November.
Foxall, Ireland's leading offshore sailor, has been a key member of Gavignet's MOD70 crew since the start of 2013 but his experience in racing the world's oceans goes back 30 years and covers a remarkable 350,000 nautical miles on the race track.
Of his last three Round the World races, he has won two of them, most recently as watch captain on Groupama in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race.
And four years previously he won the two-handed Barcelona World Race 2007-08, which when added to 18 trans-Atlantics and seven circumnavigations – including two speed records with Steve Fossett's Cheyenne – puts him in a strong position to team up with Gavignet for a bid on the coveted TJV title.
"I have already done a two-handed trans-Atlantic with Sidney when I was on the Figaro circuit at the start of my career in 1997. We have done a lot of sailing with each other and against each other; we get on well and have complementary skill sets," said Foxall.
Four MOD70s are due to line up for the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre on 3 November 2013 for the race from Le Havre to Itajaii in Brazil with Gavignet and Foxall set to do battle with the three boats they are currently competing against in the Route des Princes.
Racing with just two crew however, as opposed to six, presents a whole new set of challenges.
"These boats are not designed to be sailed by two so it will be a handful, a big challenge" Foxall said.
"Apart from the autopilot there is not much about this boat that lends itself to short-handed sailing. It's a lot of boat to handle for two people but Sidney is used to that and I have done a few two-handed races.
"We have a good chance of doing well but it is a heck of a machine to control. We need to know when to push hard and when to ease off while keeping performance levels high."
Gavignet said Foxall was a natural choice as his co-skipper though as the leading skipper for Oman Sail, a national initiative that uses the power of sport to contribute to the development of the youth of Oman, he gave serious thought to racing with his MOD70 Omani teammate Fahad Al Hasni, who is one of the programme's most promising athletes.
"Fahad is one of our top Omani sailors and has made huge leaps in his learning but it is too soon for him to race a MOD two-handed, he is progressing very well and this will certainly come sometime in the future. For me asking Damian was a no brainer because he has so much experience in racing multihulls offshore and we have double-handed experience together which was a very good memory."
Oman Sail CEO David Graham added his support to the crew choice: "The Transat Jacques Vabre is one of the most challenging offshore races in the world and, departing from France, is a natural choice for our sponsors Oman Air and the Ministry of Tourism of Oman who see the event as an ideal platform to communicate with their target audience.
"The choice of Damian Foxall as co-skipper makes Oman Air-Musandam a strong contender for the 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre. Over the past few years, he has gained a reputation that places him at the top of any skipper's 'must have' crew list when planning a demanding offshore challenge.
"Both Sidney and Damian have been highly impressive in teaching and developing the skills of our young Omani sailors so we are confident of having our own Omani representation in these signature short-handed events in the near future."
The Oman Sail MOD70, Oman Air-Musandam, is sponsored by Oman's national airline Oman Air and supported by the Ministry of Tourism of Oman.
Wayne Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Air, added his enthusiasm for the partnership: "In line with Oman Air's mission of promoting in-bound tourism to Oman, the national carrier is proud to be associated with Oman Sail, which positions the country at the highest possible level of elite discerning travellers."
Since Oman Air was founded in 1993, its network of services has expanded to include a range of the most attractive and fascinating destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. And with each route originating in Oman, Oman Air is playing a major role in increasing the number of travellers to the Sultanate and providing a thriving gateway for business and tourism.
