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| |  Thursday, 10 May, 2001, 14:52 GMT 15:52 UK Grand Prix of the seas From Cherbourg to Tarragona via the Azores Trimaran racing is the highest-profile sailing discipline in France. The six-race Championnat 9 Telecom des Multicoques (multihull championships) begins on 12 May with the Challenge Mondial Assistance. This new nine-day race carries a first prize of �25,000. It is one of two long-distance ocean races held during the series, which also contains four short inshore races (40 miles) over three days.
The short races attract huge shore-based crowds but it is the long-distance races, described as marathons at a sprint pace, which are the bigger test. The first race is a 3,000 mile non-stop race from Cherbourg in France to Tarragona in Spain, via the Azores and the straits of Gibraltar. The series ends in November with the sternest challenge of all, the Transat Jaques Vabre, a 4,500-mile slog from Le Havre to Brazil. The championship is run under the auspices of Orma, the French Offshore Racing Multihull Association, a management body set up to organize an exclusive race schedule and point-scoring system for the 60ft trimarans.
Since then, some of the best skippers and promising talent have been seduced by the concept and prospect of racing within a thrilling sport, where technology and athleticism dominate. Most of the skippers are French. The series is extremely popular in France, though it is virtually unknown overseas. The inshore races attract huge crowds as sleepy villages burst into life with helicopters, live TV and internet crews. There will be three new boats entered in the 2001 championship. Lalou Roucayrol will have a new Banque Populaire, Jean Le Cam will race the new Bonduelle and Loick Peyron will take the helm of Fujifilm, mark II. The three new boats are likely to be faster than their rivals. But they also carry a far higher risk of technical failure. "These new-generation trimarans will have a greater top speed, which will make them dangerous in the Grand Prix races, but speed is not the only factor in oceanic races," said Foncia skipper Alain Gautier. "You also need reliability." | |
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