GOLDING AND SANSO FINISH 3RD IN THE TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE

British sailor Mike Golding, sailing with Spanish co-skipper Javier Sanso on their 60 foot IMOCA Open 60 Mike Golding Yacht Race crossed the finish line off Costa Rica’s historic Puerto Limon at 14h 59mins 38sec GMT   (08.59 local time) to secure third place in the biannual Transat Jacques Vabre double-handed race across the Atlantic which started on Sunday 8th November.
From the highest overall standard of entries that the race has seen, Golding’s finish today ensures he becomes most consistent podium finisher in the monohull class for the race which was first run in 1993. 
Since he first competed in 1999, over the six consecutive editions of the race which he has contested, Golding has now finished in the top three four times.
Mike Golding Yacht Racing approaching the finish line in Port Limon
Mike Golding Yacht Racing
His best finish in 2001 when he took second.

GOLDING TO SAIL WITH SANSÓ IN TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE
Thursday 22 October 2009

Mike Golding will compete in the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre race with Javier Sansó (ESP).  The 4730-mile race from Le Havre in France to Costa Rica starts on the 8th November.  Golding, who has competed in every edition of the biennial Transatlantic Race since 1999, was originally going to sail with Bruno Dubois, his long-term friend, team sail advisor and Managing Director of North Sails, France, but Dubois has elected to stand down in favour of the Spanish skipper.

"Javier approached Mike a while ago to sail this Transat Jacques Vabre but as Mike and I have sailed together many times before, and I suppose in a way, I was the easy option!  But after further conversations with Javier, Mike and I agreed that we ought to give him the chance. And a race like the TJV is perfect - not too long and not too short!," explained Dubois.

"It is a measure of the type of person that Bruno is that he has pursued the option to stand down.  The IMOCA Open 60 class has really begun to take off in Spain, helped primarily by events like the Barcelona World Race.  When we sold ECOVER II to Pedro Campos a couple of years ago it was really the beginning and since then it has really moved on and there is now a good core of Spanish Open 60 sailors, and 'Bubi' is amongst the leading players," comments Golding.

"He is an accomplished sailor in his own right with a Vendee Globe, a Barcelona World Race and two TJV's under his belt already." He added, "I very much hope that I might be able to share a bit of my own experiences, but I very much see this co-operation as a two-way street.

"The boat itself is in great shape and we are very keen to get back out racing again!  The new Transat Jacques Vabre course [to Costa Rica] will see a change in the dynamic of the race and it will be interesting to see how we all measure up again after the Vendee Globe.  "

For his part Sansó is excited at the prospect of sailing with Golding.  "Mike and I have known each other for a while, albeit we have never sailed together before. I have a lot of respect for what he has achieved in his career and am very much looking forward to the opportunity to learn and develop my own Open 60 skills."

Javier will join Mike for the final preparation sailing in the UK and the qualification passage.  Currently Mike's IMOCA Open 60 is in Ocean Village in Southampton and has undergone a comprehensive refit over the past eight months.

Golding and Sansó are sailing the event unsponsored, and the team has benefited from the considerable support of Mike´s long-term business partner, Jørgen Philip-Sørensen.

“We are obviously now looking for a new sponsor to take us through the next IMOCA cycle, and as such both Jørgen Philip-Sørensen and I felt it was important to take part in this race as it is a key one to look at both our own, and the competition’s performance”, commented Golding. “By supporting this entry we will be able to not only do that, but also raise awareness of our search for a new sponsor.”

A NEW COURSE FOR THE TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE
01.10.09

Whilst remaining true to its roots, the Transat Jacques Vabre is breaking new ground. Once again it will be setting off from Le Havre, a town resolutely geared towards the ocean. Innovative by nature, it is offering sailors a new course, which culminates with the double- handed crews traversing the Caribbean Sea.
This latest edition will be marked by the abundance of the foreign contingent, which has high hopes of adding a French race to their list of successes. Mike Golding will be sailing with his long-time friend and sailing colleague, Bruno Dubois, and will be joined by three other British skippers, Alex Thompson (with Ross Daniel as co-skipper), Dee Caffari (with brian Thompson as co-skipper) and Samantha Davies (with Sidney Gavignet as co-skipper).  Also joining the foreign attack on this very French event will be Spaniards Alex Pella (with Pepe Ribes as co-skipper) and Guillermo Altadill (with Pachi Ribero as co-skipper).

"The new course is an interesting development for the TJV and for us as competitors. Not going across the Doldrums and sailing into the Caribbean will alter the dynamic of the race a little and will make for an interesting competition.  As ever the event has attracted the very best of the IMOCA teams and it will be very interesting to see how the boats will measure up against each other following the Vendee Globe," commented Mike.

Mike and Bruno and their fellow overseas duos will have to compete against big French names such as Michel Desjoyeaux, double winner of the Vendee Globe and recent winner of the Istanbul Europa race, who will be defending his title alongside Jeremie Beyou, who has two stage victories to his credit from the last Solitaire du Figaro. The latter pairing will once again be up against some of some choice adversaries: 
Roland Jourdain accompanied by Jean-Luc Nelias, Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier, the duo Armel Le Cleac'h-Nicolas-Troussel as well as Kito De Pavant, who will be teaming up with some promising talent in the shape of the young Francois Gabart. To further boost the French line-up we have Marc Thiercelin and Christopher Pratt, Sebastien Josse and Jean-Francois Cuzon, who won the Fastnet 2009 in style, as well as Vincent Riou, who will be handing over his Farr design to Arnaud Boissieres.

Meanwhile to the north of Panama and the south of Nicaragua, Costa Rica is preparing to play host to the sailors competing in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2009. This new course will take the sailors across the Caribbean Sea, which will require both tactics and the ability to adapt. Any option is possible, with just one single requirement: for monohulls to leave the Dominican Republic to starboard and for the multihulls to leave the island of Barbados to starboard. Such a course means that we are likely to expect a bunched finish off Puerto Limon. 
In total, the course will represent 4,730 miles for the monohulls and 5,050 for the multihulls.

Source:www.jacques-vabre.com