J/70 Teams Debut In SPI OUEST

(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The 35th edition of the SPI OUEST-France Intermarché starts on March 28th and goes for four days of racing in the Bay of Quiberon off the famous seaport of La Trinite sur Mer.  SPI OUEST France is one of Europe's largest regattas, and certainly the premiere regatta of the spring sailing season, and over 150 volunteers from the Societe Nautique La Trinité-sur-Mer have been preparing for several weeks to host the 423 registered sailing teams and several thousand sailors. And among the skippers, some of the biggest names in French sailing will once again take part in SPI OUEST; including none other than Thomas Coville, Franck Cammas (Volvo Ocean Race winner on GROUPAMA), Vincent Riou, Michel Desjoyeaux, Nicolas Troussel Souben Daniel, Nicolas Lunven, Franck-Yves Escoffier and others.

The weather scenario is a bit uncertain as a huge depression in the North Atlantic is expected to arrive Monday in the late afternoon, but is preceded by a trough carrying winds. The path it will takes varies from hour to hour based on the various weather models.  Explained Christophe Gaumont (renowned meteorologist), "yesterday, we predicted 35 knots Friday and this morning, we did not expect more than 10 kts!  We should have a weekend with a wide range of conditions, sustained wind Friday and Monday and low to moderate Saturday and Sunday. The east, west, south, a little rain, a little sun. In short, an Easter weekend of varied, colorful and variable weather." Now that's a weather forecast all the sailors can rely upon, isn't it?

Of the 423 boats sailing, over 130 alone are J/Teams (31% of the entire fleet) which makes "J" the dominant sailboat brand at the biggest regatta hosted in France!

This event marks the debut of one of the world's fastest growing one-design classes in recent history-- the J/70.  The class was first introduced in America in the spring of 2012 and now one year later sports a one-design fleet in France produced by J/Composites from nearby Les Sables d'Olonne.  With nearly 400 J/70s sold worldwide,  the European circuit is just starting to get off the ground as boats started delivering to continental sailors in late Fall 2012.  The first J/70 European event was the Primo Cup hosted by Yacht Club Monaco about a month ago.  For SPI OUEST, a fleet of nine J/70s will be sailing for French class honours.  Like Key West Race Week in January, it's difficult to predict who may be front runners as all teams sailing are quite competitive.  For example, Philippe Delaporte of J/122 RORC winning fame is now sailing his PEN AZEN with friends and is apparently incredibly excited and enthusiastic for racing in the class.  Fred Bouvier of J/Composites is sailing J BECRE, M Gosset is racing SAILS CONCEPT and M Gellez is sailing ECSAIL DUNKERQUE and finally M Thomas is skippering OEUST GREEMENT.  For more SPI OUEST France Intermarche sailing information