The 7 e edition of the Voiles de Saint-Barth will be held from April 11 to 16, 2016 and is one of the major sailing events in the Caribbean. In 2010, when it was created, 27 yachts lined up on the starting line. In 2015, they were 70 participants and nearly 80 units were expected in 2016. Unfortunately, the objective is far from being reached since only 59 boats have signed up for this 7th edition e edition.
1100 sailors will be present at this 2016 edition, including many international and French sailing stars. Ken Read (more than forty sports titles to his credit) will be the godfather of this 7th edition of Les Voiles and skipper of Comanche, the 100-foot Maxi designed by VPLP and the longest sailboat ever built in carbon using the infusion technique in the United States. To name a few others: Bouwe Bekking (Team Brunel), seven participations in the Volvo Ocean Race to date, Brian Thomson (Phaedo 3), holder of the Jules Verne Trophy alongside Loïck Peyron on the Maxi Banque Populaire V since 2012, Guillermo Altadill (Varuna VI), second in the last Barcelona World Race, but also Peter Harrison (Sorcha), Irvine Laidlaw, Mike Topa and Matt Wachowicz (Highland Fling), Markus Wieser, Tony Rae (Momo).
On the French side, we will also find great names such as Lionel Péan (SFS), Éric Dumont and Yves Montanari (La Bête), Marc Emig (Crédit Mutuel Maximarine), Christine Briand, Jimmy Pahun or Jacques Caraës.
Who is participating?
The teams entered in the Voiles de Saint-Barth are increasingly eclectic, made up of both amateurs and professionals and come from all over the world: French West Indies, United States, France, United Kingdom, Africa, Germany and Hollandâ?¦
For this 7 e edition of the race, the boats competing will be divided into nine different classes, as indicated by Luc Poupon, General Commissioner of Les Voiles de Saint-Barth. Thus we will find the :
- Maxi 1,
- Maxi 2,
- Multi,
- CSA 0,
- CSA 1 mixed with the Class40 who will race according to their own class rules,
- CSA 2, 3 and 4,
- Melges 24.
"We defined the classes with a real concern for fairness. The idea was to make the fleets as homogeneous as possible so that the fight on the water would be close and interesting, both for the sailors and for the spectators detailed Luc Poupon.
What course?
The regatta courses are designed by the race committee and made more and more competitive. For this 2016 edition, 21 different courses have been planned by the race direction, with extremely varied routes, adapted to each class. "They range in length from 15 to 35 miles. They will be chosen each morning before 8:30 a.m., depending on the weather conditions. One of our priorities will be to make sure that there is no possible crossing between the fleets at the mark crossings." explains Jean Coadou, President of the race committee.
As in 2015, starts will be given east of Sugarloaf and finishes will be judged in front of Governor's Beach. "We have chosen to apply the same scheme as in 2015. On the other hand, we have decided to launch five different starts in order to spread out the fleet, mainly for safety reasons. We will start with the slowest boats, i.e. the CSA 4s and the Melges 24s, then we will finish with the multihulls "continues Jean Coadou.
What's special about it?
A variety of boats will be present at the Voiles de Saint-Barth, including impressive-sized boats such as the 100-foot Galateia and Comanche, designed for the greatest ocean challenges, not to mention the Maxi 72, TP 52 and VOR 65, which are as technological as they are competitive.
The Voiles de Saint-Barth will welcome an impressive fleet of owner's boats, mixing racing beasts, unusual prototypes, flying machines or the latest in certain classes such as the Wally.
