18ft skiffs rev their engines

Mark Foy Trophy starts tomorrow in Carnac

The 18 foot skiffs have arrived at the Yacht Club de Carnac to take part in the first edition of the Mark Foy Trophy over 28 June to 4 July.

Teams competing have come from all over Europe, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, France, but also as far afield as the USA and Australia and New Zealand - their boats arrived by container on Tuesday after a nine week journey. Around 30 teams are set up on the YCC parking and are preparing their sea Formula 1. In order to put the finishing touches to their boats and to finalize the settings, the competitors are taking possession of the water plan and are training on what will be their playground for a week: the Bay of Quiberon.

The famous names of this sport are all present and ready to confront one another in the bay. Having just this morning completed the Volvo Ocean Race, Rob Greenhalgh is also set to attend. The 2004 JJ Giltinan Trophy winner will be up against, class legends such as John Winning, Trevor Barnabas and Howie Hamlin

All the boats will be equipped with a GPS for the live broadcasting of the event on the web and onshore on screens.

Competition will be high to win this trophy, named after Mark Foy, an Australian businessman with a passion for sailing, who invented the 18 foot skiffs in 1892. A trophy with his name on it has been found recently in the Rogue Flying Squadron offices. After restoration, the family of Mark Foy has given it to the international class association. Having arrived on Wednesday in Carnac, the trophy is 50cm high and is decorated with a Chinese junk and Australian fishes.

The first races start tomorrow (Sunday) with two races each day through until next Saturday, with a layday on Wednesday.

Entries:

Boat	Nat	Helm	Middle	Fore
CT SAIL BATTENS	NZ	VALLINGS Alex	KITCHEN Chris	MC CORMACK Josh
GILL/WILD GRAPHICS	UK	BROWNE Ed	TAIT Mark	CHRISTOPHERS Johannes
RONSTAN	UK	TORNBULL Ian	CONSTABLE Paul	MC KINLAY Alec
BENNY	UK	GREENHALGH Robert	JOHNSON Dan	HARMER Phil
HELLY HANSEN	UK	CHRISTIE Iain	FERGUSON Miall	ISHERWOOD Matt
INVESTEC PRIVATE BANK	UK	WOODWORTH Mason	NOONAN Jonathan	HAMILTON Simon
JF HILLEBRAND	NZ	AIREY Philip	ENGLAND Murray	CATLEY Nick
MAERSK LINE	NZ	CATLEY Graham	WHITBURN Hayden	DEAN Riley
PICA	UK	MEARS Jamie	GILL Matt	MEARS Stewart
TEAM EURO LINK	GER	FRIEDRICH Penner	MEIBREV Latzi	EGGERSHLARFER Thomas
RAIFFEISEN	HUN	PFENINGBERGER Andras	GERLITS Attila	CLEREL Balazs
YANDOO	AUS	WINNING John	HAY Andrew	HARRIS Peter
APPLIANCES ONLINE;COM	AUS	WINNING John Jr	AUSTIN Tim	EWINGS Dave
ASKO	AUS	WILSDON Dan	MC DONALD Cam	MASSEY Archie
MAGIC MARINE	GER	NORBERT Peter	PHILIPP Berner	LEMMEL Fabian
LIBERTY SAILING TEAM	HUN	MIKLOS Ujhelyi	MATYAS Majthenyi	ZSOMBOR Szepfy
BANDOL NEWB	FRA	DUMAINE Olivier	VENNAT Robin	FATON Serge
BERLIN SYNDIKAT	GER	NOCKE Philipp	ADOMEIT Julius	WIHLFAHRT Urs
GP COVERS	DEN	CLAUSEN Flemming	EBLER Thomas	CLAUSEN Soren
TANGO	UK	LE MARE Richard	TURNER Dave	VIAN Tom
TNI	SUI	RUEGER Stephan	MARTI Ueli	SCHUERCH Res
TMF GROUP	UK	SIMPSON Jarrod	PARTINGTON Andrew	ADAM Ovington
PINDAR	UK	RICHARDS Andy	FAIRLEY Andrew	PENFOLD Will
MACQUARIE	USA	HAMLIN Howie	LANZINGER Fritz	NOBLE Matt
GRAPEFRUIT GRAPHICS	UK	CLOTHIER Ben
24HR ROAD SERVICE	AUS	BARNABAS Trevor	PHILIPPS Daniel	BARNABAS Trent
REMEMBER THE DAYS	GER	HAGENMEYER Christoph	HOEFFLE Holger	MANNES Hans Peter
SLAM	AUS	ROLLERSON Grant	YOUNG Jack	COXON Mike
PANASONIC	AUS	WHITTY Jonathan	HIGLETT Dan	ANDERSON Tom