[Source: Vulcain Trophy] The D35 catamarans are back for new races this weekend. The boats will sail two very different types of regattas: short “sprint” courses in Versoix and a long-distance regatta on Saturday from Geneva to Rolle. The Vulcain Trophy plateau, presented by Business and Decision, is as rich as ever with Michel Desjoyeaux at the helm of Artemis for the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva, alongside Torbjorn Tornqvist, while Paul Cayard and Yvan Ravussin will be back on Artemis for the Open de Versoix. As for Ernesto Bertarelli, he will be at the helm of Alinghi this weekend to prepare the Bol d’Or Mirabaud. Realstone Sailing led by Jerome Clerc will have to work hard to stay ahead in the overall ranking. Zen Too of Guy de Picciotto that had gone through a severe damage during the Open de Crans, hitting a stone in the bay, has been repaired and will be ready on the starting line with Fred Le Peutrec at the helm.
The D35 fleet. Photo copyright Christophe Schmid
The Geneva-Rolle-Genève (9 June)
Known as the rehearsal of the Bol d’Or Mirabaud, the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva regatta is one of the great classics of the lake. The departure takes place on Saturday, June 9 at 1 pm off the Yacht Club de Genève, at a place called the Tour Carrée. The starting line is an imaginary line marked by buoys, starting from the Yacht Club de Genève to the Beach of Mont-Repos on the right bank of the lake. The competitors have to round two buoys in front of Rolle (a town 40 km away from Geneva on the lake side).Then they have to come back to Geneva and pass the finish line in front of the Yacht Club de Genève. This race is open to all classes and categories of boats and usually includes more than 200 boats on the starting line. To avoid accidents, the line is split into two, the multihulls starting next to the Beach of Mont-Repos.
Open of Versoix (8 and 10 June)
The Club Nautique de Versoix hosts the third stage of the Vulcain Trophy to be held over two days, on Friday and Sunday. For this regatta, the D35 catamarans will race short courses of about 30 minutes long. There will be a maximum of six races on Friday and on Sunday, starting at 11.00 on Friday and 11.30 on Sunday.
Overall ranking after 2 legs:
1. Realstone Sailing (Clerc) – 3 points
2. Alinghi (E. Bertarelli) – 5 points
3. Artemis Racing (Tornqvist-Cayard) – 5 points
4. de Rham – Sotheby’s (Cardis) – 8 points
5. Ladycat (D. Bertarelli) – 11 points
6. Okalys – Corum (Grange) – 12 points
7. Zen Too (De Picciotto-Le Peutrec) – 15 points
8. Veltigroup (Simeoni-Lerch) – 15 points
9. Nickel (Moura) – 16 points