Help charity yacht racers raise funds

ATLANTIC charity yacht racers Samantha Davies and Tanguy de Lamotte are running in fifth place in the Transat Jacques Vabre race to Brazil – after several difficult days that have seen eight of the 42 starters abandon.

The duo, racing for the Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque charity in a bid to raise money to fund heart operations for sick children, have already raised €115,756.

If they can raise €120,000 that will be enough to fund operations for 10 children - and hopefully save their lives.

See below how you can help them raise funds by ‘liking’ their Facebook page with sponsors donating €1 or €2 for each ‘like’.

Sam and Tanguy say they have had a few problems quelques petits bobos sur le bateau which they hope to repair this afternoon in calmer seas. Sam says the race so far has been 'like being inside a washing machine'.

#TJV2015 Samantha nous montre les conditions à bord d’initiatives-coeur. pic.twitter.com/7ukwBDDV3r— Initiatives Cœur (@initiativecoeur) October 26, 2015

“We have 35knots of wind and we are running at 20knots. The first days have really been difficult and we could not do much on the boat, except hold on!

“But we are going well and are happy with how we are doing. We cannot see the leaders but we know that they are not very far ahead.”

The crews have been battling very high winds, storms and confused seas where hard hats and protective eye wear have been the order of the day. When the crews spoke to Race HQ today and yesterday, the most common shared themes are the wearing, depressing wetness.

Water everywhere. And… the inability to keep anything dry.

The race leaders in the Ultimes class are already off the coast of Morocco as they head for Italjaí but for Sam and Tanguy in their Imoca class Initiatives-Coeur they hope to get past Sao Miguel and escape a new depression that is approaching. You can follow their progress on the Transat Jacques Vabre race page at http://tracking.transat-jacques-vabre.com/fr/

How to help Sam and Tanguy boost their fundraising:

Go on to Facebook and ‘like’ their page at : Facebook.com/initiativescoeur

Sponsors will pay €2 to Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque for each new internet user that follows the Initiatives Coeur Facebook page. They will also pay €1 for each user who ‘shares’ the Initiatives Coeur Facebook page on their own Facebook account.

See the rough seas the racers face in this Youtube video
that Sam describes as 'like being inside a washing machine'

[#Vidéo] Un 7ème enfant de sauvé ! @initiativecoeur @samanthadavies @TanguyDeLamotte ! #TJV2015- https://t.co/sLHZv6XjqA— Transat JacquesVabre (@TransatJV_fr) October 27, 2015