Summary of the race at the halfway point
First, the crewed yachts set off, followed by the solo yachts heading for the north of Corsica. But the course is not the same since the crews will sail a course of 900 nautical miles (tour of Sardinia) against 400 nautical miles (tour of Corsica) for the solos.
On the crew side, the VOR 70 SFS II in the colors of Gibraltar took the lead of the race in real time followed by the great sun Lady First from Marseille, a Sun Fast 3600 Give me Five 40 from Sainte-Maxime, the X412 Patitifa from CNTL or the sailboats from Troyes Albacor 5 and Xantus.
After reaching Corsica, the sailboats continue their route towards the island of Ponza in Italy, which they will sail around before reaching southern Sardinia.
In the "Solos" the start was in line in front of Saint-Tropez. The group of Figaros quickly got away from the Sunfast. We counted two retirements, Denis Bouan on Joope and Olivier Romand on Broceliande north of Corsica for technical problems.
On Sunday, March 13, the solo sailors benefited from favorable conditions to the east of Corsica and were making rapid progress. Pierre Quiroga, new skipper of CEM (Mediterranean Training Center) started like a flash in front of the rest of the fleet, but Laurent Pellecuer, on Hippocratus.com l'Option Sud, winner of one of the stages of the Solitaire du Figaro in 2005 and winner of the 2008 AG2R transatlantic race, quickly took over the lead of the group towards Corsica with Michel Cohen on Tintorel. But Laurent Camprubi on Janie Philip, just behind, multiple winner since 2010 in solo and crew, including twice in the Mediterranean Trophy double-handed in 2013 and 2014.
The awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 20, 2016.
The sailboats involved in the 2016 edition
Alone
- Art Immobilier Construction with Daniel Dupont
- Ar Wech All with Michel Pelegrin, Boulinou with Eric Bompard
- Broceliande with Denis Bouan
- Coco with Frédéric Ponsenard
- Epsilon with Laurent Favreau
- Euro Sailing with Christophe Barrue
- Hokua with Frank Paillet
- Joope with Olivier Roman
- Nautiplus Geroule with Roland Montagny
- Telemaque with Eric Merlier
including four "figarists
- Laurent Pellecuer on Hippocratus
- Pierre Quiroga on JB Skipper Espoir Cem
- Laurent Camprubi on Janie Philip
- Michel Cohen on Tintorel
In crews
Among the crewed competitors, regulars of the race such as
- Peips of Christian Deschepper present since 2010 and becoming the most faithful participant
- Pegasus by Francesco Conforto (5th participation)
- Patitifa by Pierre Ortolan (4th participation)
- Ansha by Mattéo Carli Roy
- Xantus by Bastien de Brouwer (2nd participation)
Newcomers, the sailboats :
- Give me Five 40 by Adrien Follin
- Feeling Good by Paul Camps
- The Insolite of Ronald Le Leuxhe
- Jubilations of Arnaud Vuillemin
- Lady First by Jean-Pierre Dreau
- Mataf by Jean-Yves Legall
- Obsession by Christophe Magnin
- Patricia II, a pogo 40 with Mario Girelli,
And the largest units like :
- SFS II with Lionel Péan (3rd participation)
- OZ, an open 60 with Mikhail Agafontsev
- Winner of the event in 2011, the sailboat Albacor 5, which will be the 5th participation, will also compete, but with a Tropezian crew, including the skipper Patrick Gibert.
Photo credits: SNST
