Revised Tour Voile

Details of this years Mumm 30 blast around the French coast

The race course of the next Tour de France à la Voile, taking place from 29 June to 29 July 2006, has been announced. In general for the 2006 race - there will be less offshore legs - but they will be longer - and the inshore races will be divided up in a better way.

This 29th Tour de France à la Voile will include 12 stopovers, and 10 offshore legs. After a pretty full-on 2005 edition with 14 stopovers, following a 'light' year in 2004 with 10 stopovers, the Tour de France à la Voile 2006 has now opted for the compromise that should please both competitors and public. The race organisation also took into account the competitors comments who wished to visit fewer locked harbours in order to optimise their time on land and at sea. As a result the 2006 race course only includes two locked harbours instead of six last year.

The port of Dunkerque-Dunes de Flandre will welcome the Mumm 30 fleet from 29 June to 2 July for the traditional prologue race and three inshore races, before the start of the first offshore leg. The city of Jean Bart, the famous French corsair, will have four days to celebrate this the 21st time the Tour de France à la Voile has stopped in this town, making it the most visited town since the race's creation in 1978.

The boats will leave the North Sea on 2 June to head to Dieppe, another usual stopover where sailing fans will be able to watch the regattas from the top of the impressive while chalk cliffs, as they have done for the last 15 years. Two days later, the fleet will start again to sail to Le Havre, the Normandy town recently registered as a Unesco World Heritage Site, where the race hasn't stopped since 2001. The Mumm 30s will then head on to Saint-Quay-Portrieux in north Brittany on the race's longest offshore leg of 155 miles before stopping in Camaret-sur-Mer in Finistère, where the crews will be able to have a short break, as they only have to compete one inshore leg. They will start again on 11 July for the tactical leg through the Raz de Sein and the Iles de Groix, Belle-Ile, Houat and Hoëdic, before finishing at La Roche Bernard on the Vilaine river, the second and last locked harbour in the 2006 course.

On 14-15 July, the Mumm 30s will be in Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, at Port Bourgenay near Les Sables d'Olonne, a port used to welcoming various yachting events like the Solitaire du Figaro. From there, the boats will head to Royan on their last Atlantic leg. the Mumm 30s will then be hoisted out, derigged and then towed by road to Saint-Cyprien on the French Mediterranean coast, where the Tour de France à la Voile will be stopping for the 17th consecutive year. 127 miles further east, the Mumm 30 will enter the Bay of Marseille, a beautiful playing ground for sailors that has already hosted many international sailing events such as the America's Cup Acts in 2004, The Race finish and various ORMA 60ft trimaran grand prix. On 25 July, the fleet will be heading to Sainte-Maxime, opposite Saint-Tropez, before returning back to the west to finish in Hyères-Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée, where the local crew of Coych, skippered by Fabien Henry, will fight to defend their 2005 title.

To manage the technical and sporting aspects of the event, the race organisation called a Tour de France à la Voile specialist, Christine Briand, who has competed in this event 18 times, including six as a skipper. The French yachtswoman, three times world champion (1983 on 470, 1994 and 2002 on J22) will be replacing Sylvie Viant, who will be part of the Race Committee again.

If the three class concept remains the same, the points system will be slightly different. The amateur and student classes will additional to the overall ranking, in order to help the public understand the three class system. The other new aspect for the 2006 Tour de France à la Voile will be the race follow-up on land. Larivière Organisation, who manage the race, would like to put the public and the race closer together with a better website to follow the regattas that will be displayed on a giant screen in the Race Village.

For the second consecutive year, the race organisation will also keep managing the Championnat de France des équipages (the French fully crewed championship) with two others events: the Grand Prix Atlantique in Pornichet (4-8 May 2006) and the Grand Prix Méditerranée of Hyères (5-8 October 2006).