Vendée Saint Petersburg - New Multihull 50 offshore race

Sun, 16 May 2010 - Fri, 4 Jun 2010

A new race reserved for Multi 50s has been created: the Vendée Saint-Petersburg.

The first edition of the race is due to start from Saint Gilles Croix-de-Vie on 16 May with a total distance there and back of 3790 miles.

Eight crews will be lining up at the start, including two
of the latest racing machines in the class: Actual and Crêpes Whaou!

In all, the race will cover the territorial waters of 14 countries - sailing in the Atlantic, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic - before they finish in
Saint-Petersburg, Russia on around 20 May 2010.

The race will be holding a stopover for around ten days in Russia, before the start of the return leg on 31 May 2010,
with the finish forecast in the port of Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie on around 4 June 2010.

Sunday 30 May marks the anniversary of the founding of Saint-Petersburg by Tsar Peter I, and the Multi 50s will carry out a parade on the Neva, under the windows of the famous Hermitage museum.

Raced with a crew of three sailors, the members of the crew can switch over between the two legs. The official race website will be updated in French and English, but also in Russian.

For the moment, eight Multi 50 crews have already signed up. Alongside Yves Le Blevec (Actual) and Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou !), there will be Hervé Cléris (CLM), Erwan Leroux (Fenêtréa-Cardinal), Anne
Caseneuve (Croisières Anne Caseneuve), Etienne Hochédé (PIR2), Philippe Laperche (Gamin) and Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine-Port Médoc).

The race is due to take place every four years alternating with the Vendée Globe. It is an initiative from the Vendée Council, which – as with the Vendée Globe – has created a public-private partnership for the event.