Final Grand Prix

Big wind today for 60ft trimarans at day one of the Fecamp Grand

Today the final Grand Prix of the year for the ORMA 60ft trimarans gets underway off Fecamps on the coast of northern France, a regular fixture in the tri calendar.

12 boats will be taking part, with most using it for some final tuning prior to the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race in early November.

The forecast looks exciting - with 30 knots from the northeast which will see some blistering pace from these boats, the fastest 60footers afloat.

In training yesterday Lionel Lemonchois' Gitana X blew out her mainsail and will have to use her delivery sail.

With around 11 crew on each boat, the fleet has attracted the creme of French sailing. Former Team New Zealander Bertrand Pace is racing on board Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini with former Prada and Amer Sports One crewman Stephano Rizzi.

Ellen MacArthur is back on board Alain Gautier's Foncia, recently relaunched with new mast and sails following her capsize in the Challenge Mondial Assistance. Match racer Thierry Peponnet is on board Belgacom with Finn champion Sebastien Godefroid.

Who's going to win? Groupama is probably the favourite. Despite getting a little long in the tooth (a new Groupama, another designer by Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost is in build at the moment), skipper Franck Cammas is a virtuoso on the race course and always shows supreme confidence sailing the boat.

Also to be watched is Karine Fauconnier's Nigel Irens design Sergio Tacchini, which has been showing form since winning the grand prix in Cagliari, albeit in much lighter conditions.

However there is no clear favourite. Jean-Luc Nelias will be looking to make an impression on board Belgacom, particularly as that sponsorship is shortly to end. Michel Desjoyeaux will be as strong as ever with his team on Geant, while on Foncia Alain Gautier may be looking for some vengance having lost the Solitaire du Figaro by just 13 seconds.


Crew line-up

Banque Covefi
Stève Ravussin (Sui)
Yvan Ravussin (Sui)
Philippe Cardis (Sui)
Alexandre Quilier (Sui)
Nicolas Avram
Nicolas Pichelin
Thierry Douillard
Georges Wagner (Sui)
Bertrand Seydoux (Sui)
Philibert Chenais
Claude Thelier

Banque Populaire
Lalou Roucayrol
Daniel Souben
Tanguy Brodu
Bruno Jeanjean
Gilles Favennec
Frédéric Pautler
Jean Marie Dauris
Thierry Poirey
Olivier Lozachmeur
Bruno Laurent
Christophe Cudennec

Bayer CropScience
Frédéric Le Peutrec
Jean Christophe Mourniac
Loïc Lingois
Franck Citeau
Julien Cressant
Frédéric Dahirel
Alexandre Marmora
Jacques Guichard
Alexis de Cenival
Jochen Krauth
Jan Dekker

Belgacom
Jean-Luc Nélias
Sebastien Godefroid (Bel)
Grégoire Metz (Bel)
Yann Gouniot
Luc Bartissol
Nacho Postigo (Esp)
Christophe Lassègue
Laurent Delage
Fred Brousse
Thierry Peponnet
Jean-Sébastien Ponce

Biscuits la Trinitaine
Marc Guillemot
Yann Guichard
Yvon Daniel
Christophe Espagnon
Sébastien Thétiot
Thierry Duprey
Frédéric Le Maistre
Emmanuel Le Borgne
Nicolas Raynaud
Antoine Carpentier
Gilles André

Géant
Michel Desjoyeaux
Mick Kermarec
Renaud Banüls
Eric Cochet
Nicolas de Castro
Hugues Destremau
Hervé Jan
Eric Carret
Jacques Caraës
Sidney Gavignet
Vincent Riou

Gitana
Lionel Lemonchois
Benjamin de Rothschild
Marc Guessard
Philippe Durr (Suisse)
Nicolas Berthoud (Suisse)
Thierry Barrot
Jean-Baptiste Epron
Nicolas Engel (Suisse)
Yann Marilley
Olivier Wroczynski
Sébastien Josse

Groupama
Franck Cammas
Pascal Bidegorry
Franck Proffit
Philippe Touet
Benoît Briand
Thierry Fouchier
Stéphane Guilbaud
Eric Coulon
Ewen Le Clech
Ronan Lucas

Foncia
Alain Gautier
Sébastien Col
Ellen MacArthur
Thierry Briend
Fabrice Levet
Antoine Gautier
Thierry Chappet
Philippe Péché
Albert Jacobsoone
Nicolas Bérenger

Sergio Tacchini
Karine Fauconnier
Bertrand Pacé
Philippe Cairo
Antoine Mermod
Damian Foxall
Fabrice Blondel
David Boileau
Jean Baptiste Le Vaillant
Stefano Rizzi
Olivier Douillard
Romain Troublé

Sodebo
Thomas Coville
Pierre Pennec
Christian Dumard
Frédéric Guilmin
Hervé Cunningham
Denis Pelmont
Jean Christophe Moussard
Steve Cadler
Loïc Le Mignon
Jacques Vincent
Knut Frostad

Sopra Group
Philippe Monnet
Walter Pirinolli
Sébastien Audigane
Bruno Staub
Thierry Brault
Jean François Nevo
Marc Vallin
Jean Paul Levrel
Pierre Tremouille
Denis Charvoz
Bruno Staub