New Class 40 thousand miler

Normandy Challenge Race to take place in May

A new doublehanded offshore race for the Class 40s is to take place in the Channel this year, starting and finishing in Caen.

Sirius Evénements is launching the Normandy Challenge Race to be held over 13-23 May. The start of this 1,000 miler will be on Sunday 16 May and will take the skippers along the coasts of Normandy, England, Ireland and Brittany.

The course is a highly demanding one, through some complicated areas for navigation allowing for many tactical options. Half the race is coastal while the other half is offshore in the English Channel, the Celtic and Irish Seas. The course will have marks to be rounded off the Isle of Wight, the Irish lighthouses at Tuskar Rock and the more famous Fastnet Rock, also the Raz Blanchard and the Pointe de Barfleur, among others.

Race Management will be provided by well known race director Sylvie Viant, who has previously worked on the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum and Jacques Vabre.

The race is aimed at the Class 40s, given the number of boats based in northern France, on the south coast of the UK, Belgium, Holland and Germany.