Louis Burton has completed the epic Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) 2015 in a thrilling finale to achieve 9th place. After 19 days, sailing thousands of miles across the Atlantic from Le Havre, France to Itajai, Brazil, Louis narrowly missed out on 8th place by a mere 3 minutes and 37 seconds. His IMOCA 60, Bureau Vallée, which was co-skippered by Romain Attanasio, took 19 days 5hrs 11 minutes 33 seconds to complete the race, finishing on 13th November. The 2015 TJV was Louis’ 6th transatlantic crossing and 3rd TJV.

Such is the difficulty of the gruelling TJV that many of the world’s top Ocean racers dropped-out. The Bureau Vallée experienced technical issues on board, and was handicapped by energy problems that forced Louis and Romain to use battery lamps at night, but this did not stop them completing the race. Despite such challenges the pair ended up just minutes behind Fabrice Amedeo and Eric Peron of Newrest Matmu.

Talking about completing the TJV, Louis said: “We are really glad that we finished the Transat Jacques Vabre 2015, which was a particularly difficult race both for men and equipment. With our motor black out, electric issues or fire onboard, no pilot for more than 2 days, and the water... lots of water! It was a really good race before the Vendée Globe, a good training! Thanks to Gill for their support and the equipment!”

Gill has been Louis’, and the Bureau Vallée team’s, preferred clothing partner since 2012. Among their most essential kit was the Ocean Racer suit, which gives the best protection of any gear we’ve ever made (in fact, it’s been around the world more than 10 times before we put it to market). They also took with them the Crosswind, which is an innovative mid layer to give them thermal protection, as well as our waterproof and breathable Performance Boots.