Team release:

At 1327 CET, our sailors crossed the start line in Le Havre, in the biggest race for them of the year, bound for Martinique in the French Caribbean.

Our four co-skippers, Justine Mettraux and Simon Fisher onboard Alaka'i, and Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry with Mālama, headed off in 18-20 knots of breeze as they hugged the Normandy coastline before heading out in to the English channel. 

Click here to watch the replay of the start

It's a brand new racecourse for the Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA fleet which will take them round the island of Fernando do Noronho off the coast of Brazil before heading north west to Martinique.

We wish all teams in the Transat Jacques Vabre fair winds and look forward to seeing you again on dry land, (hopefully) on the sandy shores of Martinique!

The race is a 5,800-nautical mile route across the Atlantic from Le Havre, France to Martinique.