Please select your home edition
Edition
Sea Sure 2025

French GC32s fly the tricolor at Marseille One Design

by GC32 Racing on 12 Oct 2017
Marseille One Design GC32s out practicing beneath the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica Gilles Martin-Raget / GC32 Racing Tour
Foiling catamaran action kicks off in Marseille tomorrow, Thursday 12th October and will run until Sunday, when the champion of the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour will be crowned.

For a fourth consecutive year, the final event of the 2017 GC32 Racing is Marseille One Design, where the GC32 one design catamarans will race alongside their fellow flying sailors in the Moth dinghy class.

Marseille is always a popular destination for the GC32 Racing Tour. For more than 30 years, France has been the leading nation for multihull racing. Many the country’s top sailing stars, some of them household names such as Michel Desjoyeaux, Loick Peyron and Franck Cammas, have forged their careers competing on two or three hulls.



While Cammas, winner of Marseille One Design in 2016, is not back to defend his title, several are from his Groupama Team France crew, who competed with him in this summer’s America’s Cup in Bermuda. They include wing trimmer and local Marseille resident, Thierry Foucher, Nicolas Heintz and former Olympic Finn sailor Thomas le Breton. All three are racing on one of the two French entries competing at Marseille One Design this year – Erik Maris’ Zoulou.

The other French crew hoping for glory on their national waters is Team ENGIE of former Class 40 champion Sébastien Rogues. Rogues is also now one of the longest serving GC32 skippers. “My first GC32 experience was here in 2014 - I am the old guy of the GC32 class now!” he jokes. “We are very happy to be in France for the second event.” Marseille One Design follows September’s GC32 Orezza Corsica Cup, both events organised by French company, Sirius Events in conjunction with the GC32 Racing Tour.



Rogues has strong objectives for Marseille One Design as it will affect his position on the 2017 championship leaderboard. “Marseille is important because it is the last event of the season and mathematically we can get on the podium. But between the podium and us is a Japanese team...” At present Mamma Aiuto! of Naofumi Kamei sits on the bottom step of the podium on 15 points, with Team ENGIE currently lying in fourth on 18.

The most local team to Marseille is Pierre Casiraghi’s Malizia – Yacht Club de Monaco. The Monaco team is hoping to repeat its performance from early on in Calvi, when they dominated racing. Unfortunately disaster then struck on the final day when they caught the top mark, damaging their rudder, which caused them to miss the last races, thereby losing the lead.



On board Malizia is former French America’s Cup helmsman Sebastien Col, who heralds from Sète and who’s yacht club – Yacht Club Pointe Rouge - is nearby in Marseille. “We have trained hard for the last three days and hopefully it will pay for the week,” said Col. “Marseille is a place we like a lot, being French. Weather-wise it is a little bit on or off, light or breezy, but Marseille is a great city. I am really happy to be here.”

Meanwhile the fight for the overall lead of the GC32 Racing Tour remains between the Swiss crew on Realteam led by Jérôme Clerc and, just two points behind, Argo of American Jason Carroll. In third place the crew on Mamma Aiuto! is looking to defend its third place. However the hottest contest over the next four days will be between Argo, Malizia and Mamma Aiuto! They are all within a point of one another in the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour’s Owner-Driver championship.



Since joining the GC32 Racing Tour at Copa del Rey MAPFRE in August, Simon Delzoppo’s .film Racing has been steadily on the ascent. Still firmly on the steepest part of the learning curve, the Aussie team, that includes 2015 GC32 Racing Tour winner skipper Leigh McMillan, is hoping to improve on its sixth place in Calvi last month.

Going into Marseille One Design, Manager Christian Scherrer said: “It is a great pleasure to be back in Marseille to round off the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour, and a privilege to race out of the marina which will host the sailing at the Olympic Games in 2024 .”





GC32 Racing Tour results after four events
Pos Team Riva Cup Villasimius Cup Copa del Rey MAPFRE Orezza Corsica Cup  Total
1 Realteam 1 2 3 1 7
2 Argo 4 1 2 2 9
3 Mamma Aiuto! 6 3 1 5 15
4 Team ENGIE 3 5 7 3 18
5 Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco 7 6 4 4 21
6 Movistar 5 4 5 10 24
7 ARMIN STROM Sailing Team 2 7 9 10 28
8 Zoulou 10 10 6 7 33
9 .film Racing 10 10 8 6 34

GC32 Racing Tour Owner-Driver results after four events

Pos Team Riva Cup Villasimius Cup Copa del Rey MAPFRE Orezza Corsica Cup  Total
1 Mamma Aiuto! 6 2 1 1 10
2 Argo 1 1 2 6 10
3 Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco 2 3 3 3 11
4 .film Racing 6 6 5 2 19
5 Zoulou 6 6 4 4 20
Allen SailingV-DRY-XZhik 2024 December

Related Articles

Middle Sea Race set to attract exceptional fleet
Royal Malta YC has 118 entries already At midnight on Friday, 19 September the 46th Rolex Middle Sea Race had amassed a fleet of 118 yachts. The entrants represent 30 countries and territories: from Australia and New Zealand to Finland and Norway, and from the United States to Romania.
Posted today at 6:27 pm
52 Super Series 2025 Porto Cervo day 1
Solid Sled earn early lead in Sardinia Takashi Okura's Sled lead the 52 SUPER SERIES - Porto Cervo - Range Rover regatta after the first two windward leeward races.
Posted today at 6:10 pm
Melges 24 Worlds 2025 at Trieste, Italy Day 1
No racing possible on the first day Good things are worth waiting for, and that was the adage at the opening day of the Melges 24 Worlds, which ended without any races in the scoreline. The weather in Trieste proved too unstable, with storms in the morning followed by a lack of wind.
Posted today at 5:41 pm
Formula Kite Worlds Quartu Sant'Elena preview
9th Sardinia Grand Slam is the first major step towards Los Angeles 2028 Next September 28th to October 5th, the Poetto beach will host the event that crowns the new World Champions. Among the top contenders: Maeder, Vodišek, and Pianosi in the men's fleet; Nolot, Aldridge, and Kampman among women
Posted today at 5:14 pm
SailGP, TOR Europe, Women's Match Racing Worlds
Good things often happen when preparation meets opportunity Good things often happen when preparation meets opportunity. Such was the case for the Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank squad when they notched their first-ever SailGP event win at last weekend's Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix.
Posted today at 5:00 pm
A Q&A about the 2025 Hobie 16 North Americans
Tom Pace, Hal Smith, and Michael McNeir discuss the 2025 Hobie 16 North American Championship Spoiler alert: The Hobie 16 is far from a new design. But that doesn't matter: When Hobie Alter's first 16-foot fiberglass catamaran hit the Southern California beach scene in 1970, the sailing world was forever changed
Posted today at 3:00 pm
The Philadelphia Cup Regatta preview
There's still time to register Sail on or spectate along the Delaware River this Saturday, at The Philadelphia Cup Regatta presented by Sea Philly and the Independence Seaport Museum.
Posted today at 10:43 am
Melges 15 Fittings Guide
A breakdown of the fittings based on a complete Allen Brothers fit-out If you are looking to upgrade or replace the hardware on your Melges 15, it helps to know exactly which fittings you need and what their role is on the boat.
Posted today at 7:30 am
Fortaleza World Sailing Championships announced
Test event in January 2026, and the real thing in January 2027 World Sailing has confirmed the dates for Fortaleza 2027 World Sailing Championships as 22-30 January 2027, with a Test Event being held one year prior.
Posted today at 6:40 am
All set in Trieste for the Melges 24 Worlds
Racing set to begin at Yacht Club Adriaco The countdown is nearly over. In just a few hours, the Yacht Club Adriaco will oversee the start of one of the most eagerly awaited international sailing events of the season.
Posted today at 4:41 am