MOD70 European Tour preview

by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson on 22 Aug 2012 MOD70 European Tour, the second event of the Multi One Championship, gets underway on Sunday 2nd September 2012. The fleet of five MOD70 multihulls will muster in Kiel, Germany on Tuesday 28th August, making ready for five weeks and almost 5000 miles of racing around the European mainland coast, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, finishing in Genoa on October 2nd.

The inaugural tour event encompasses challenging offshore races linking Kiel in Germany, Dùn Laoghaire – Dublin Bay, to Cascais by Lisbon in Portugal to Marseille in France to a finish in Genoa, Italy.

The five offshore stages will encounter a full range of weather and sea conditions, from strong contrary winds and big seas off the North of Scotland to the very light, unpredictable winds of the Mediterranean.

Aboard the five MOD70’s will be some of the best, fastest offshore multihull sailors in the world. Yann Guichard’s Spindrift racing has already won the Krys Ocean Race across the Atlantic and includes Atlantic and round the world record holders such as Pascal Bidégorry and recent winner of the Solitaire du Figaro Yann Eliés. Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of FONCIA has won the Vendée Globe solo round the world race.

Class and circuit co-founder Stève Ravussin of Switzerland will be joined by Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper Franck Cammas and Thomas Coville on Race for Water.

Sidney’ Gavignet’s Musandam-Oman Sail will again have Britain’s fastest round the world sailor Brian Thompson on board. The Omani team will be joined by German ace Michi Mueller for the inshore city races. Sébastien Josse can rely on the cohesion and performance of his well trained team on board Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. At each city stop the five identical MOD70’s, all equally matched 70 foot high speed offshore racing multihulls, will compete in a series of short, fast races closer to shore City Races and Speed Matches.

The MOD70 European Tour is the second event of the Multi One Championship, following on from July’s inaugural Krys Ocean Race which saw the MOD70’s race the Atlantic from New York to Brest, France at remarkable speeds. The first three boats finished within less than two hours after traversing the Atlantic in under than five days with the winning boat making more than 711 miles in one 24 hours period.

The high speed MOD70 class of trimarans are a new innovation for sailing. They have already proven to be the fastest offshore sailing one design class in the world. Each MOD70 is completely identical, built from the same moulds, so that success – inshore and offshore – reflects the skills of the sailing crew and not any technological advantage.

Crew Lists :
Race For Water : Stève Ravussin (SUI), Yvan Ravussin (SUI), Franck Cammas (FRA), Thomas Coville (FRA), François Morvan (FRA), Loïc Forestier (SUI), Tanguy Cariou (FRA), Nicolas Heintz (FRA), Gurvan Bontemps (FRA), Benoît Lequin (FRA)

FONCIA : Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), Antoine Carraz (FRA), Thierry Chabagny (FRA), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), Emmanuel Leborgne (FRA), Xavier Revil (FRA), Sébastien Col (FRA), Alban Rosselin (FRA), Nicolas Texier (FRA), Julien Falxa (FRA)

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild : Sébastien Josse (FRA), David Boileau (FRA), Florent Chastel (FRA), Cyril Dardashti (FRA), Olivier Douillard (FRA), Christophe Espagnon (FRA), Antoine Koch (FRA), Thomas Rouxel (FRA)

Spindrift racing : Yann Guichard (FRA), Léo Lucet (FRA), Pascal Bidégorry (FRA), Jacques Guichard (FRA), Jean-Baptiste Levaillant (FRA),Yann Eliès (FRA), Kevin Escoffier (FRA), Devan Le Bihan (FRA)

Musandam-Oman Sail : Sidney Gavignet (FRA), Fahad Al Hasni (OMA) Moshin Al Busaidi (OMA) Khamis Al Amburi (OMA) Brian Thompson (GBR) Jean-François Cuzon (FRA) Thomas Le Breton (FRA) Michi Mueller (GER)

Offshore legs :
1 / 188 miles - Kiel to Dùn Laoghaire (Dublin)
Starts 2nd September finishes 5th September

2 / 1215 miles - Dùn Laoghaire (Dublin) to Cascais.
Starts 9th September finishes 12th September.

3/ 558 miles - Around Portugal Race 17th-18th September.

4/ 1071 miles - Cascais to Marseille
Starts 20th September finishes 23rd September

5/ 672 miles - Marseille to Genoa
Starts 30th September finishes October MOD70 European Tour website