Can you present us in a few words the concept of Nice Ultimed?
Nice UltiMed (pronounced Med for the Mediterranean) is a race with a simple concept: to share the extraordinary by bringing for the first time in the heart of the Mediterranean the biggest ocean racing boats and the greatest skippers in the world.
The Mediterranean public rarely, if ever, has the opportunity to see these boats racing. It will be the meeting of the Mediterranean public that usually follows sailing via television and digital with these stars of sailing. It is also a request of the shipowners to set up an event of this scale to activate partnerships in this area. This is usually done in a scattered manner.
The idea is to bring together the biggest boats and the biggest skippers - without exaggerating, there are not many more than a dozen skippers capable of racing these Ultimates. They represent the elite of ocean racing.
Is it an initiative of the Ultime class, which needs to create a race, or of the city of Nice?
It is the story of a good meeting, with the will of the Ultim' shipowners (Ultim' collective), but also outside the collective, like Idec Sport (which is not part of it) to activate in the Mediterranean. We managed to find a partnership with Christian Estrosi, who was looking for a large-scale event, to show that the city of Nice is truly turned towards the sea. We hope it will be a success!
We wish to install the race durably, with the will to install on a biennial format (every two years). This will be decided after the first race.
What is the interest of having chosen the Mediterranean knowing that sailing races are usually held on the Atlantic coast?
Unfortunately, the Mediterranean is the poor relation of ocean racing. However, it is a territory where there are many fans of ocean racing and which represents a very large part of our coastline. It is good that we manage to get out of our habits.
Can you tell us more about the concept of the "Offshore Sprint", a link between offshore racing and water sports? What will be the format of the race?
We have created a sporty format for the occasion since these boats are usually designed to sail around the world. Here, we adapt to the Mediterranean format.
It will be a hybrid format. The concept will be that of an "offshore sprint" which will see the Ultimates compete on a circuit starting and finishing in Nice and along the Nice coast. There will be 9 days of events - from April 28 to May 6 - evenly distributed. There will be only one race, but the boats will go out regularly, participate in parades..
What about Sébastien Josse's participation on the Edmond de Rothschild trimaran?
Today, it is not planned. We are in discussion with them, as with others. For the moment, 4 skippers are confirmed: Armel le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire), Thomas Coville (Sodebo), Yves le Blévec (Actual) and Francis Joyon (Idec Sport).
François Gabart (Macif) will decide whether to participate depending on the outcome of his round-the-world race and the weather window he manages to catch early enough, or not.
How do you plan to bring these giant boats closer to the people?
I give you an appointment on 1 er december 2017, for the official presentation of the race.
