Calais to the Fastnet and back

We look at Sunday's 1000 Milles de Calais

This Sunday, 9 May, will see the start of the 1000 mille (the 'mille mille') de Calais for the Open 60s. Six boats are entered racing fully crewed from Calais to the Fastnet rock and back.

The boats taking part are the 'creme de la creme' of the Open 60 fleet including Mike Golding's Ecover, Jean-Pierre Dick's Virbac, Vincent Riou in PRB and Joe Seeten's Arcelor Dunkerque. However all eyes will be on the brand new Marc Lombard Open 60s Sill and Bonduelle, for whom this will be their race debut.

Each boat must be sailed by five crew (see the crew list below) and the event will count towards the 2003 IMOCA Championship.

The course takes the boats from Calais westwards down the French coast to a turning mark off Boulogne. The boats are then free to take whatever route they want down the Channel and across to the Fastnet rock which they must leave to starboard. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Fastnet lighthouse. The boats then return back up the Channel to Dover where they must round a mark and head for Calais. The Dover to Calais run will form part of a timed record course. The best time to date - 1 hour 18 minutes and 50 seconds - was set by Charles Hedrich's Objectif 3 during the Calais Round Britain Race last year.

According to the conditions the race is expected to last 4-6 days. Prize money will be awarded to the first six boats home ranging from a useful 12,600 Euros for the first boat down to 1,400 Euros for the sixth placed boat.

The race will form part of the Entente Cordiale centenary celebrations and as an indication of this the start line will be between the HMS Quorn and Pégase of the Royal Navy and the French navy respectively. The start gun will be fired by double Olympic gold medallist in the Tornado Nicolas Hénard at precisely 1500 GMT.

Crew list

Arcelor Dunkerque
Joé Seeten/ skipper
Luc Meurisse
Gilles Colubi
Elie Canivenc
NC

Bonduelle
Jean Le Cam/skipper
Ronan Le Goff
Henri Daden
Pascal Dourlen
Yann Regniau

Ecover
Mike Golding (GBR)/skipper
Merfyn Owen (GBR)
Brian Thompson (GBR)
Graham Tourell (GBR)
Bruno Dubois (BEL/CAN)

PRB
Vincent Riou / skipper
Yann Eliès
François Laurent
Jean Marc Failler
Albert Barguès (ESP)

Sill
Roland Jourdain /skipper
Gaël Le Cléach
François Scheek
Bruno Béhuret
Hugues Destremau

Virbac
Jean Pierre Dick/skipper
Nicolas Abiven
Luc Bartissol
Laurent Delage
Jean Yves Gau

Program:

From Wednesday 5 May :
All the 60 foot monohulls will be present in the Bassin Ouest in Calais

Thursday 6 May :
Entertainment and exhibitions in the race village, stages in the Bassin de Plaisance

Friday 7 May :
Entertainment and exhibitions in the race village
Between 1100 GMT and 1300 GMT, passage of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque (cycle race) close to the village
Around 1200 GMT : yachts exit the quayside for an exhibition regatta off Calais
Return of the yachts to the marina at around 1630 GMT.

Saturday 8 May :
Entertainment and exhibitions in the race village
1000 GMT: naming ceremony for Jean le Cam's new boat Bonduelle
Around 1250 GMT : exit of the yachts for an exhibition regatta off Calais
Return of the yachts to the marina at around 1715 GMT.
2130 GMT : Giant fireworks display by Marc Jaumot produced by the Channel, Scène Nationale de Calais, in the presence of Sir John Holmes, Ambassador of Great Britain in France

Sunday 9 May
1345 GMT : exit of the yachts from Calais to the start line at the foot of the Blanc Nez
1500 GMT : start of the 1000 milles de Calais by Nicolas Hénard from HMS Quorn of the Royal Navy.