The kick-off of the 4th edition of the Drheam Cup, contested solo or with a crew, was given this Sunday. Head to Trinité-sur-Mer.
In cherbourg
Caught up by the Covid-19, François Gabart did not finally take the start of the Drheam Cup given this Sunday afternoon from the large artificial harbor of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche). Tested positive the day before, he let the Figaro sailor Tom Laperche take the helm of his SVR-Lazartigue trimaran (only Ultim at the start), whose participation in the Route du Rhum is also still suspended pending the decision next Thursday from the Administrative Court of Paris whether or not to homologate his boat there. It is therefore without the French skipper, who smashed the solo round the world record in 2017, that the starting signal for the Dhream Cup was given this Sunday from 2 p.m. off the Marina Chantereyne, where the race village had been erected for four days of festivities around the pontoons.
Qualifier for the Route du Rhum
For this 4th edition, nearly 350 amateur and professional competitors, solo or in crews, set off on the always dreaded crossing of the English Channel from the sunny harbor of Cherbourg. Depending on the class of sailboat, three courses – one of 600 and two of 1000 miles – were marked out between English waters, the Isle of Man on the Irish side, even passing by the Spanish coast for certain classes, before an arrival scheduled for the first boats from Wednesday at La Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan). This qualifying race for solo sailors with a view to the Route du Rhum scheduled for November, brings together nine classes, monohulls or multihulls: Figaro 3 Bénéteau, Class40, Multi 2000, IRC and double IRC, Imoca, Rhum Mono and Multi, Ocean Fifty and Ultimate.
Created in 2016 by Jacques Civilise, member of the Yacht Club de France, the Dhream Cup, which takes place every two years – on even years – had only about forty competitors at the start when it was created. Today, the “Dream” is on the way to becoming an unmissable event in the sailing family. The local authorities of the Cotentin – city, agglomeration, department and region – support the event in particular to consolidate and associate the status of Cherbourg as being from now on ” a departure town for offshore races “. A bit like Les Sables-d’Olonne with the Vendée Globe or Saint-Malo and the Route du Rhum…
Among the skippers to follow for this 4th edition, title holder Ian Lipinski says to himself ” determined to keep his Class40 title, but he will have a hard time facing Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) who won the Solitaire du Figaro twice in 2016 and 2019 or the former Olympic champion Jean Galfione (Serenis Consulting), who confesses get in Route du Rhum configuration “. Note the participation of Marie Tabarly aboard Pen Duick VI with 12 crew members, and that of Catherine Chabaud, who is setting off again alone, twenty years after her last Vendée Globe, aboard her famous 60-foot monohull. ” I missed the sea and the solo race “, Said this weekend the navigator, who has been sitting in the hemicycle of the European Parliament since 2019 and defends the oceans there.