3 stages in the Mediterranean then 1,700 miles to Brittany
The Pro Sailing Tour combines offshore and inshore races. Since 2021, it has been the official circuit for the Ocean Fifty, who come to race as a crew, all filmed and then broadcast on Canal Plus as a series. This season 3, organized from May 10 to 29, 2023, will take the crews to 4 mainly Mediterranean cities. From La Seyne-sur-Mer, the crews will reach Corsica and the mouths of Bonifacio, passing by an Italian island or Menorca, heading for Sardinia, before passing the Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese coast, the Bay of Biscay in a 1,700-mile run that will end in Brest.
A season 3 with a taste of the large
Gilles Chiorri, race director of the Pro Sailing Tour explains: "This season 3 will have a taste of offshore since the inshore will not count, they will take place to embark guests and share the sensations on board with each of the crews. This suits us and the crews well, as these short courses on these fast boats require a certain experience and dexterity. We won't have sweaty hands with stress at each start! The Pro Sailing Tour, after two seasons, is reaching maturity with skippers who are extremely comfortable like Erwan Le Roux or Thibaut Vauchel-Camus. For the 3 newcomers, there will be an observation round on the first 48h episode to reach Bonifacio. But I think that they will quickly get stronger, this will be the case for the 24 hours to Alghero through a tour of Corsica. Then it will be 6 days of sailing to reach Brest with many traps. The third episode will be high mountain!"
Five crews, three newcomers
For this season 3, 5 50-foot trimarans will be lined up at the start, compared to 7 for season 2. Once again, the regulars, Erwan Le Roux on Koesio and Thibaut Vauchel-Camus on Solidaires en Peloton-ARSEP . The two sailors will be accompanied by three newcomers to the circuit. Luke Berry on Le Rire Médecin-Lamotte Real Estate who after 5 years on the Class40 circuit has taken over Sébastien Rogues' former Primonial. Pierre Quiroga on Viabilis Oceans won the call for applications from the BE Racing team. He is now the new skipper of the former Leyton . Finally, Christopher Pratt, known for having been Jérémie Beyou's co-skipper on Charal is in the process of finalizing the acquisition of the former GCA-1001 Smiles by Gilles Lamiré.
Fabrice Cahierc who is currently building the Ocean Fifty Realities and Sébastien Rogues and his new Primonial will be absent from this new season, as their boats are still being built.
