After two days of boat inspections and final tuning at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Figaro Beneteau 3 fleet will begin racing Friday. Nine crews are launching their Tour Voile campaigns with a packed schedule built to squeeze racing into ideal conditions that forecasters expect to weaken by Saturday.
Race Director Yann Chateau confirmed the outlook: “Beautiful weather, beautiful sea.” A westerly to southwesterly wind of 10 to 12 knots, gusting to 15 knots locally, will greet the fleet leaving the dock. The first start comes at 11:00 for a 14-nautical-mile coastal course running east from the Grande Rade, past Pierre Noire, and around Cap Lévi lighthouse—a traditional opening test that sets early tone. Three or four built races will follow in the afternoon, with boats expected back ashore around 18:30. The race committee is deliberately stacking Friday’s card because Saturday winds are forecast to drop significantly off the Cotentin peninsula.
Coastal Racing Meets Built Courses
Gabriel Jean-Albert, sailing La Réunion’s entry, expects the mix to reveal the field fast. “We’ll see the forces at play very quickly,” he said. “The coastal race takes us east of Cherbourg and back into the anchorage, where strategy and reading the water matter most. Then we switch to built courses where speed and clean manoeuvres take over. They’re two completely different exercises.”
Jean-Albert has finished fourth and third in previous editions and is targeting the podium this year. His crew includes Aurélien Barthélémy, who revived the La Réunion project three years ago in what the team describes as a knowledge-transfer initiative.
The nine boats are identical, which creates a razor-thin margin. Charlotte Yven of Région Bretagne–CMB Espoir put it plainly: “Ninety sailors of very high level on the same equipment. Every point counts. By tonight we should see which crews are already in rhythm and which need a few races to find their feet. But Tour Voile is long—some will build momentum, others will have tougher stretches. Today is just a first reading.”
Pierre Leboucher, coaching APCC Centre de Formation, flagged how currents and local wind effects shift things quickly off Cherbourg. “We’ll get a first sense of where things stand, but nothing’s decided,” he said. “It’ll be a big day—if the schedule holds, we won’t see the dock until late.”
Maé Cottereau, sailing Seiko–Les Etoiles Filantes for TAKHYS, captured the mood. “We’re just thrilled it’s finally starting. You prepare all year for this. It’s going to be physical and full-on, but the conditions look perfect to dive right in.”
