Wednesday, May 16, 2012

J/133 JIVARO Wins Tour de Belle Ile

JBoats sailing Tour de Belle Ile, France (Quiberon Bay, France)- One of the largest and more unusual offshore regattas of the year is the famous "sprint" around the gorgeous island off France called Belle Ile.  This year, over 500 boats all started on ONE starting line and took off towards Belle Ile, sail around it and back to the finish line, a 44 nm adventure reminiscent of the famous Around Island Race (the Isle of Wight) on the south shore of England.  The J/Teams sailing in this year's event sailed incredibly well, in fact, sweeping IRC 1 and IRC Overall!

Winning IRC 1 and overall was the J/133 JIVARO sailed by Yves Grosjean and crew.  Second and third were two J/111s, Didier LeMoal's J-LANCE 7 and Stephane Blanchard's LE JOUET, respectively.  And, the J/122 JOLLY JOKER finished 4th in this tough class.  In IRC 3, the J/105 J CROIS PAS sailed by Philippe Tostivint finished second in class.  The Facebook page for Tour de Belle Ile.    For more Tour de Belle Ile sailing information