Défi Azimut – Lorient 2021: Save the date!

Défi Azimut – Lorient 2021: Save the date!

by IMOCA Globe Sequence 31 Jul 01:34 PDT
14-19 September 2021

A sports activities meet and social event organised by the Lorient-based firm Azimut (digital options), the Défi Azimut, the eleventh competitors of this title, stays a quite atypical occasion. Placing the skippers to the take a look at in three totally different workout routines over 5 intense days (Pace runs, 48-hour sprints and the Tour de Groix spherical island dash), this yr the race formally kinds a part of the IMOCA Globe Sequence Championship. With the notable assist of the Lorient Agglomération and the Brittany Area, the Défi Azimut is as soon as once more set to contain some unbelievable battles out on the water, in addition to some top-level exchanges on land with various competition-related themes.

After a wonderful singlehanded version in 2020, we make means for the double-handed format in 2021, simply eight weeks earlier than the beginning of the Transat Jacques Vabre. The Notice of Race has already been revealed on the official web site www.defi-azimut.net and registration is now open, so the countdown has begun!

This yr, Sylvie Viant is taking up the function of Race Director, teamed up with Hubert Lemonnier, each of them extremely skilled with a detailed relationship to the racers. It’s this duo who will probably be monitoring the competitors, the excessive level of which would be the 48H AZIMUT, a course spanning at the very least 500 miles (and as much as 700), contested in double-handed configuration plus an on-board report (media individual). It’s this race, which can see the individuals awarded factors that depend in the direction of the IMOCA Globe Sequence Championship.

A dream line-up

Round twenty or so duos are anticipated to participate within the 5 days of top-class races from 14 September. The duo of Jérémie Beyou and Christopher Pratt will probably be defending the title that Jérémie secured again in 2020 on Charal they usually’re certain to have their work lower out in opposition to an armada of foilers, a number of of which have modified palms because the Vendée Globe. For the latter group, the Défi Azimut will probably be a extremely instructive expertise over quite a lot of codecs conducive to efficiency comparisons. For many who have held onto their around the world steed with a view to optimising them, as is the case for skippers like Charlie Dalin who’s pairing with Paul Meilhat on APIVIA and Thomas Ruyant supported by Morgan Lagravière on LinkedOut, they will clearly be focusing on the gold medal on this competitors. Lastly, among the many IMOCAs with traditional daggerboards, skippers Damien Seguin and Benjamin Dutreux on Groupe APICIL will definitely be the boys to beat given their glorious monitor data on this class.

Crusing, an excellent regional catalyst

For one week, the Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly and the port of Lorient La Base, will host the groups with a spread of high-quality amenities, with the invitation being prolonged to the media and an organisation workforce of 60 folks.

With the Pays de Lorient and Brittany inserting their strategic chips on offshore racing, as evidenced by the redevelopment of the submarine base, a sector of excellence with worldwide recognition has been capable of be developed there. Synonymous with innovation, jobs and occasions, the advantages of top-rank crusing within the area prolong far past the sports activities area. Certainly, it’s a beneficial context for coming collectively to contemplate the numerous environmental and societal challenges throughout a collection of conferences and spherical desk occasions organised on the very coronary heart of the occasion.

As such, the Défi Azimut is the right annual platform for shining a highlight on the superb vitality drummed up by offshore racing in Lorient on Brittany’s Atlantic seaboard.

Quotes:

“Sport, innovation and human and collective engagement make offshore racing an actual asset in Lorient and in Brittany. Put plainly, it’s completely distinctive. Bringing collectively the authors of this success, each on land and at sea, is what drives us at Azimut. This yr, we’re providing you the prospect to journey from Lorient to the Orient, in a journey stuffed with cultural surprises, in addition to a collection of exchanges alongside the exemplary themes of regional dynamism: structure, composites and inclusion… For the sailors, it will likely be one other refined competitors and we’re very proud to now be an official occasion within the IMOCA Globe Sequence Championship, which is the very best type of recognition of the occasion’s sporting high quality,” Jean-Marie Corteville, creator of the Défi Azimut and President of Azimut.

“We’re delighted to assist the Défi Azimut within the Pays de Lorient. It is an offshore race on a sea of potentialities, a serious sporting, human and technological problem, which additionally showcases the a number of fields of excellence in our area, its capability to organise and innovate, together with its vitality and its experience,” Fabrice Loher, President of Lorient Agglomération, Mayor of Lorient.

“Brittany is keen about crusing. The Défi Azimut is likely one of the many races which enliven our shoreline. The Brittany Area is proud to associate an occasion, which brings our style for innovation, sport and the need to be collectively to the fore,” Loïg Chesnais-Girard, President of the Brittany Area.