28 Crews To Set Sail At The Start Of The 7th Transat Quebec - Saint-Malo

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 crewed transatlantic race, which previously saw wins by Karine Fauconnier, Franck Cammas, Loick Peyron, Laurent Bourgnon, Serge Madec and the late Loic Caradec. For the 2008 edition, the Class 40′ boats will be in the spotlight with no fewer than 18 boats setting sail.

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.

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 (Criepes 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, Herve Cleris from Brest on his Prince de Bretagne.

However, the big fight this year will be within the Class 40 monohull fleet. 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.

www.quebecsaintmalo.com

(taken from Scuttlebutt Europe #1559 - 11 July)