Win a Figaro campaign for two years

French youth sailors fight it out in the Challenge Espoir Region Brittany

15 young skippers were selected today to participate in the Challenge Espoir for the Brittany Region.

This represents the first phase of the Challenge Espoir and will be followed by a selection on the water beginning on 3 March, followed by the final solo race. The purpose of this selection, conducted and financed by the FFVoile, is to discover new potential talent for offshore racing. The winner, to be announced on 3 April, will make provided with a Figaro Bénéteau II for two seasons on the French Championship Course au Large Solitaire, with an operating budget and a salary, and a training skipper over the two year period.

The Challenge, backed until 2007 by the Credit Agricole bank, has provided a big boost to up and coming skippers since 1993 and in the past has helped launch the careers of Franck Cammas, Yann Eliès and Sebastien Josse. The Breton region has decided to become the new partner of the challenge to strengthen its commitment to the marine industry, both sporting and economically. The region wishes to contribute, along with the Pole France and the FFV, to enrich the pool of Breton skippers.

This pre-selection by the jury has whittled down to 15 an initial list of 29 applicants received by the Pole France Finistère Course au Large training centre.

Of the 15 six are from Brittany while the Mediterranean have three while . The Mediterranean edge in second place with 3 licensees, followed by the Région Rhône-Alpes and Pays de la Loire with two respectively, with additional entries from Normandy and Ile-de-France.

It should be noted that among the 15 is Adrien Hardy, who last year was one of the favourites in the Mini class' Transat 6.50 Charente Maritime-Bahia and one woman, Gwennaïg Runavot, form Brest.

The selection criteria used by the jury were those who have won to date in their particular type of sailing or windsurfing and on their sailing skill, their potential in terms of project management and communication: "We selected people who have a potential for competitive sailing at a high level and also have the profile of a sailor. In addition to their experience in competition, we took into account their experience at sea," commented the Pol Atlantique's, Christian Le Pape.


15 young skippers preselected
CARRAZ Antoine, 25, Concarneau
CLOAREC Damien, 25, Carantec
DELAHAYE Fabien, 24, Caen
DE PAVANT Hugo, 23, Montferrier
FLEURY Cedric, 24, Binic
GABART Francis, 25 Angeac
Adrien HARDY, 24, Indre
LIITOZ BARITEL Alexis 25, Annecy
MARAIS Robin, 22, Marseilles
MARCHAND Anthony, 23, Plérin
MARIETTE Benedict, 24, Versailles (78)
Simon MORICEAU, aged 21, St Evarzec
PORTA Guillaume, 25, La Rochelle
RUNAVOT Gwennaïg, 21, Brest (29)
TROIVILLE Tanguy 23, Plonéour Trez

The Jury:
Philippe GOUARD, DTN, FFVoile
Henri BACCHINI, Vice President of the FFVoile
KERHOAS Michel, President of Pole Finistere Course off
Jean LE CAM, Skipper
Vincent RIOU, Skipper
Sebastien JOSSE, Skipper
Philippe GOMES, representative of the Brittany Region

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