Marseille Trophy. Image copyright Julio Verstraeten/Audi MedCup.
by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson
The regatta could not be closer to the beating heart of the City, with the shore facility situated less the 50 metres from the grand La Mairie – the city hall – while the TP52’s and GP42’s line up stern-to along the Vieux Port dock where visitors can get a perfect view of the boats and many of the world’s best sailors.
All the key components are in place to try and improve on the outstanding success that last season’s regatta proved. The regatta village has been under construction, over 120 tonnes of specialist equipment decanted from the six trucks and four containers which tour the essential infrastructure around to the Audi MedCup Circuit host cities. The 1,200 square metre regatta area includes the luxurious two-story Audi Race Village centre as well as the new Audi MedCup Expo which features a host of informative and interactive displays.
Once again on shore, and live on www.medcup .org, there will be live real time tracking of the fleets, complemented by live comments from the water in French and English. The big question is if the renowned Mistral winds will return to provide some fast spectacular racing among these high-tech, Grand Prix yachts.
Marseille will see the debut of John Cook’s new Cristabella (formerly El Desafio) among the fleet of 11 TP52 Series boats, which will contest the City of Marseille Trophy, with 6 GP42 Series yachts returning from their successful MedCup debut at Stage One in Alicante.
Racing begins with the Practice Race for the TP52’s on Tuesday 9th June, as the preliminary to the first windward leeward races in Wednesday 10th.
The stunning, imposing cliffs of the Massif de Calanques to the east of Marseille towards Cassis should form a stunning backdrop to the TP52 Series Coastal Race which is scheduled for Friday. Racing for both the TP52 Series and the GP42 Series is scheduled to finish on Sunday 14th June.
Audi MedCup
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