The biggest French multihull sailing champions will meet once again in the five-round 2010 Extreme Sailing Series. Loick Peyron, holder of the most multihull championship titles, Yann Guichard, a favourite for the forthcoming Route de Rhum, and Franck Cammas, who convincingly won the Jules Verne Trophy just one month ago, will meet on the water for the first time this year on 27 May at the first event in Sète, France.
In Detail:
« We’ve spent the winter capturing the Jules Verne Trophy with an amazing team onboard Groupama 3, and so Groupama 40 looks pretty small! But we like these close-quarter regattas. Our business is all about sailing so, big or small, in a team, or alone, it’s not important. It’s all about the sailing. »
Franck will be joined onboard Groupama 40 by his regular team mates Tanguy Cariou, as tactician with whom he has won a number of titles on the ORMA Grand Prix circuit, as well as two new team members for the first leg in Sète:
« For the first event on the 2010 circuit, we have modified the team with the arrival of Christophe Espangnon and Devan Le Bihan. And with Tanguy Cariou as the tactican we have a great team. Whether it is enough to win against Oman Sail Masirah or Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, both of whom shone last year, I don’t know. But we have been training and preparing for Sète with the same determination as all our other projects. The format and situation in the city will be great with the racing so close to the public and Sète also has the America’s Cup history. It promises to be a great event. »
The third French skipper joining the circuit this year is Loick Peyron, a sailor with the most titles in the history of multihull sailing and recently returned from Valencia as helmsman of Alinghi’s America’s Cup entry in the battle of the giant multihulls. Peyron will be helming the winning boat of 2009, Oman Sail Masirah with no change to the rest of the team. Mark Bulkeley, who represented Great Britain in the Tornado class at the Athens Olympics, will stay in his role of mainsail trimmer and tactician; David ‘Freddie’ Carr, one of the most experienced Extreme 40 sailors, will use his knowledge at the front of the boat as bowman and Pete Cumming, the skipper in 2009, will this year be the trimmer and overall sailing team manager for the Oman Sail team. After a winter of training in Sultanate, the Oman Sail Masirah team will be hoping their experience and close teamwork will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010.