All ready for start of Transat Quebec Saint-Malo

by Transat Quebec Saint-Malo media on 14 Jul 2008
The seventh Transat Quebec Saint-Malo, which will start on Sunday 20th July in front of the Quebec Yacht Club will see no fewer than 28 boats lining up for the start of this mythical crewed transatlantic race, which previously saw wins by Karine Fauconnier, Franck Cammas, Loïck Peyron, Laurent Bourgnon, Serge Madec and the late Loïc Caradec. For the 2008 edition, the Class 40' boats will be in the spotlight with no fewer than 18 boats setting sail.

The only transatlantic sailing race from West to East, the Transat Quebec – Saint-Malo offers a wide range of unique sights, which excite the imagination and offer a set of difficulties complicating the race strategies of those taking part. From the Isle of Orleans to the Madeleine Islands, there is the magic of the huge and wild Saint Lawrence River, on offer to the competitors before they pass between Saint Pierre and Miquelon, then slide down under Newfoundland and the gateway to the ocean. The Atlantic and the stagnation of the Irish Sea often lead to the midsummer calm of the English Channel, which is ideal for offering a thousand different scenarios.

The Class 40' in force

The Transat Quebec – Saint-Malo is an Open type race, where several classes take part including monohulls and multihulls. The race has to be run with a crew, with at least three people on board each boat. The ever-growing range of Class 40' boatswill be the stars of the event with no fewer than 18 entrants, where the range of different design choices will come into play and where we will find great talents from all sorts of sailing background from successful ocean racers to enlightened amateurs.

28 entrants: the various faces of ocean racing

The fifty-foot multihulls, which are light and with a lot of sail will probably be the first to cross the finish line in real time off Saint-Malo. Eternal rivals on the water, Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou!), Victorien Erussard (Laiterie de Saint-Malo) from St. Malo and Pascal Quintin (Forget Formation) will be meeting up with an old friend, another 50-foot trimaran specialist, Hervé Cléris from Brest on his « Prince de Bretagne». While they can count on the calms of the Saint Lawrence to shine in the first stages of the race, they will need however to keep an eye this year on the downwind performance of the IMOCA monohull, Cervin enr with Yannick Bestaven on board, in spite of being so close to the Vendée Globe.

However, the big fight this year will be within the Class 40 monohull fleet. Very good at seakeeping, descendants from the large 60-foot boats, the Class 40 yachts offer homogeneity, which guarantees a fair fight on the water.

Sailed by crews of 3 or 4, they will offer similar performances in the light conditions of the Saint Lawrence and in the Atlantic breeze, which means we are likely to see a lot of different boats leading in the daily rankings.

The Italian, Giovanni Soldini, just back from the glory of his win in the Transat looks like being the one to watch. However, the runner up in Boston, the German sailor, Boris Herrmann clearly wants to gain revenge with his «Beluga Shipping». After that, we must not forget a series of young French talents, who learnt their skills in the Figaro and the Mini 6.50 class. Oliver Krauss, who did well by coming third in Boston last month is one of them. He applies to Class 40 sailing the same rigour and the same serious approach that made him one of the top talents in the Figaro circuit.

With similar background and ambition, we should also watch Tanguy De Lamotte and his «Dream team », Sam Manuard, Ronan Deshayes and Fabrice Morin, who just picked up on the way to Quebec, the « Marblehead-Halifax Race», the mini racers, like Jean-Edouard Criquioche and Pierre-Yves Châtelin, are abandoning their families and work for their passion during this transatlantic race.

List of entrants for the 7th Transat Quebec – Saint-Malo:

CLASS 40'
- ANGOULVANT François / CLASS'40 Fermiers de Loué-Sarthe
- CARPENTIER Patrice
- LAJOYE Luc / CLASS'40 Les Entreprises Lorraines
- CATHERINE Gwenc'hlan / CLASS'40 SAIPEM – Leadership in Safety
- CHATELIN Pierre-Yves / CLASS'40 Destination Calais
- COATNOAN Christophe / CLASS'40 Groupe Partouche
- CRIQUIOCHE Jean-Edouard / CLASS'40 Esprit Large - Talmont Saint-Hilaire
- DE LAMOTTE Tanguy / CLASS'40 NOVEDIA Group – SET Environnement
- DUTOIT Gilles / CLASS'40 Techneau
- GALMARD Éric / CLASS'40 Khat 7
- GRINDA Alain / CLASS'40 Rêv'86
- HARDING Peter / CLASS'40 40 Degrees
- HERRMANN Boris / CLASS'40 Beluga Shipping
- KRAUSS Oliver / CLASS'40 Mistral Loisirs - Pôle santé Elior
- MABIRE Halvard / CLASS'40 Courrier de l'Odet
- NOBLET Yvan / CLASS'40 Appart'City
- PARNAUDEAU Benoît / CLASS'40 Prévoir Vie
- SOLDINI Giovanni / CLASS'40 Télécom Italia
- VALLÉE Philippe / CLASS'40 Groupe SEFICO

CLASS 50' Open
- ANTOINE Pierre / Class 50'Open Imagine
- CLÉRIS Hervé / Class 50'Open Prince de Bretagne
- DE CARLAN Hervé / Class 50'Open Délirium
- ERUSSARD Victorien / Class 50'Open Laiterie de Saint-Malo
- ESCOFFIER Franck-Yves / Class 50'Open Crêpes Whaou!
- QUINTIN Pascal / Class 50'Open Forget Formation

IMOCA CLASS
- BESTAVEN Yannick / Classe IMOCA Cervin enr

OPEN MONOHULLS
- BULLENS Christophe / Open monocoque An Ocean of Smiles
- DOUILLEZ Denis / Open monocoque Saint-Malo Team
- LEBLANC Georges / Open monocoque Port de Québec

Withdrawals
CLERTON Wilfrid / CLASS'40 CGMER
TABARDEL Eric - DE PAS Damien / CLASS'40 Bleu Voile Océanique
FORCIER LUC / CLASS'40 YME
LAMIRE Gilles / Classe ORMA Horizon Loisirs
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The only Transat towards the Old Continent

In 1534, Jacques Cartier and his companions took almost two months to return to Saint-Malo after discovering Canada. Two months of uncertain seas and permanent dangers, which the sailors will be thinking of, as they make their way at high speed over this route, which has not changed over the centuries... There are two particular features in this transatlantic race: firstly it is the only race from west to east, and secondly it's a river race, as they sail down almost a third of the Saint Lawrence River, offering spectators the possibility of following them from land.

A little history

The historic route for the voyages of discovery of seafaring days, the Transat Quebec – Saint-Malo reminds us of the world imagined by Jules Verne and Herman Melville (Moby Dick) offering the competitors much more than a simple race, rather an extraordinary voyage over four centuries of seafaring adventures.It was on the 450th anniversary of the first voyage by Jacques Cartier, the sailor from Saint-Malo, in the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence in 1534, that the first Transat Quebec – Saint Malo took place in 1984. It was for a long time reserved for large multihulls before opening up gradually to more 'accessible' yachts. From a mere handful of these large yachts, we have gone this year to more than 35 entrants. 35 boats, which will once again be attracting this year large, enthusiastic crowds along the banks of the river in Quebec. The race record was set in 1996 by Fujicolor II, with Loïck Peyron at the helm with a time of 07 d. 20 h. 24 m to cover the 2950 miles.

http://www.quebecsaintmalo.com/