Round Britain line-up

World's premier Open 60s to descend on Calais prior to race around Britain

In less than two weeks time the Calais Round Britain Race sets off. Nine Open 60s with five crew per boat are taking part on this 1,850 mile lap of the British Isles.

The start at 1430 hours (French time) on Sunday 13 July will be between the two headlands of Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez off Calais - the same place where spectators gathered to greet the 60ft trimarans at the finish of the Course des Phares last year.

The race is a non-stop clockwise lap around the British isles, including Ireland, the Hebrides and the Shetlands and is expected to take around nine days.

Those signed up for the race include Mike Golding, second in the last Route du Rhum and possibly the last time he will sail the present Ecover - his new boat is due to be launched in New Zealand imminently. Golding's final crew list has yet to be announced but will include Brian Thompson and Bruno Dubois of North Sails France.

Swiss-Breton Around Alone winner Bernard Stamm will also be there aboard Bobst Group Armor Lux. Stamm dominated Around Alone and it will be interesting to see how his boat stacked up against the more powerful competition he will come up against in this race. Among his crew are Figaro sailors Bruno Jourdren and Christophe Lebas.

In fully crewed races over the last couple of year Roland Jourdain on board Sill has proved virtually unbeatable and is The Daily Sail's choice for line honours in this race. Also on board Sill will be Jourdain's old Port la Foret sparring partner Jean le Cam. Jourdain and le Cam currently have two new Lombard designs under construction in Cherbourg for the next Vendee Globe in which they will in our opinion be joint favourites with Mike Golding.

Joe Seeten will be sailing Arcelor Dunkerque, formerly Marc Thiercelin's Somewhere and the sistership to Mike Golding's Ecover. Among his crew will be Eric Dumont who will be Seeten's crew in November's Transat Jacques Vabre.

Another to watch will be Vincent Riou who has taken over the reigns of Michel Desjoyeaux's Vendee Globe winner PRB, a campaign for which he was shore manager. Riou has been sailing on the Figaro circuit in the last couple of years and will race the 60 in the next Vendee Globe.

Another Figaro sailor, Sébastien Josse will be racing VMI, the former Sodebo following his brief Route du Rhum when he dismasted very soon after the start. Josse has an all star cast sailing with him in the form serial round the world singlehander Isabelle Autissier as well as Jean Baptiste Epron and Ronan Le Goff with whom he sailed aboard Orange during their Jules Verne Trophy setting circumnavigation with Bruno Peyron last year.

Jonny Malbon and Mark Denton will be sailing Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher, rechristened Team 888. Malbon and Denton's team will be racing to make the start following their participation in the DaimlerChrysler transatlantic race.

New kid on the block is Charles Hedrich. This Frenchman is a sports adventurer who is more accustomed to the vertical rather than the horizontal extremes. Hedrich has a project called Objectif3, which, unsurprisingly, comprises three objectives: Paris-Dakar on a motorcycle (already achieved), followed by the 2004 Vendée Globe and finally an ascent of Everest. To achieve this Hedrich has chartered Josh Hall's Gartmore (more recently Emma Richards' Pindar) and has signed up Frédéric Dahirel as his main tutor and shore crew as well as names such as Tornado Olympian Pierre Pennec who more recently has been tactician on the 60ft trimaran Sodebo.

Latest to sign up for the race is the Monaco-based Belgium skipper Patrick de Radiguès on Garnier - formerly Yves Parlier's Aquitaine Innovation - sailing with a mainly Belgium crew.

Crew lists:

Patrick De Radiguès (BEL) - Garnier
To be confirmed :
Michel Kleinjas (BEL)
Luc Heimans (BEL)
Stéphane Hervé (FRA)
Jonas Verckens (BEL)

Mike Golding (GBR) – Ecover
Graham Tourell (GBR)
Bruno Dubois (BEL)
Brian Thompson (GBR)
NC

Charles Hedrich (FRA) – Objectif 3
Frédéric Dahirel (FRA)
Matthieu Hars (FRA)
Armand Coursaudon (FRA)
Pierre Pennec (FRA)

Sébastien Josse (FRA) – VMI
Isabelle Autissier (FRA)
Jean Baptiste Epron (FRA)
Ronan Le Goff (FRA)
Pierre Emmanuel Herissé (FRA)

Roland Jourdain (FRA) – Sill
Jean Le Cam (FRA)
Gaël Le Cléach (FRA
François Scheek (FRA)
Bruno Béhuret (FRA)

Jonny Malbon et Mark Denton (GBR) – Team 888
Will Oxley (AUS)
Fraser Brown (NZL)
Richard Hulme (GBR)

Vincent Riou (FRA) – PRB
Jérémie Beyou (FRA)
François Laurent (FRA)
Jean Marc Failler (FRA)
Nicolas de Castro (SUI)

Joé Seeten (FRA) – Arcelor Dunkerque
Eric Dumont (FRA)
Frédéric Seeten (FRA)
Luc Meurisse (FRA)
Gilles Colubi (FRA)

Bernard Stamm (SUI) – Bobst Group Armor Lux
Christophe Lebas (FRA)
Benoît Lequin (FRA)
Bruno Jourdren (FRA)
Hervé Ricou (FRA)