New Caledonia Groupama Race all set

by Groupama Race on 27 May 2014 Weather permitting; we believe there is a very strong chance that the 2008 Groupama Race record will be beaten. During six years, the Young 11, Team Australia/Les Nouvelles, renamed Pao Production/Chairman, remains the most rapid boat to have finished the 600 nautical miles between the start in Noumea and the finish in Noumea in three days 23 hours, 20 minutes and 45 seconds.

This year a 35 foot racing prototype with folding keel, has entered for the race; Keel Bill and it skipper Patrick Baldi, who has already competed three times, hopes to carve his name among the leaders in real time of this fourth addition of the biggest Olympic banana in the world! X3 Mange Mieux Bouge Plus from Sydney 38, skipper Hervé Regimbeau, twice winner in compensated time and in real time in 2012 is counting on stopping him. The same applies to Anthony Robinson from New Zealand in his Eliott 40, Bull Rush; in 2012 Anthony and his crew narrowly missed victory in the last hours of the race after holding the lead during 80% of the time. Other boats like Internautic 6, the Dufour 44 Perf skippered by Thierry Causer or the Pogo 40 Catch Me skippered by Michel Ferard are also likely contestants for the victory in real time.

In compensated time - the classment that recompenses the best crew for their sailing abilities - the hopeful contestants are numerous. Philippe Mazard and his Young 11, BCI Radical Concept, sacred in 2008 and 2010, will put all their energy and experience into winning a third title. It will be a difficult battle with X3 Mange Mieux Bouge Plus and the owner of the record in this category the other Young 11 Pao Production/Chairman with skipper Cedric Bouchet and his solid, combative and very competent crew will reserve us some interesting options.

150 days before the departure, the boat and crews are already throwing themselves into the spirit of the race, other boats from here and there are joining them. Frank Cammas declares, ‘the earlier we decide the better’ because like in any sport, you must prepare and train and be confident in each other, to have spent lots of time at sea together, to know your boat and be confident in its ability. Sailing is also a mechanical sport and almost half of the preparation time is for the boat, it’s a technical preparation.

Technical, physical and tactical, this fourth edition of the Groupama race organised by Groupama and the Cercle Nautique Caledonien is already up and running!!

• Bull Rush - Anthony-Robinson - Elliott 40
• BCI Radical Concept - Philippe Mazard - Young 11
• Catch Me - Michel Ferard - Pogo 40 GTE
• Internautic 6 - Thierry Causer - Dufour 44 Perf
• Keel Bill - Patrick Baldi
• Pao Production/Chairman - Cédric Bouchet - Young 11
• X3 Mange Mieux Bouge Plus - Hervé Regimbeau - Sydney Event website