Like the Vendée Globe, scheduled for November 8, the Solitaire du Figaro hopes to be able to start on the initial date. But with a start set for August 30 in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, two months earlier than the world tour, the oldest French sailing race sees the ax, if it did not fall, in all cases seriously approach. Even if the current deconfinement can give him real hopes ...
The OC Sport Pen Duick organizing team, led by Alex Pichot, thus sent an email to sailors, the French sailing federation and partners to inform them that they were currently working on three scenarios: "A Solitaire as planned, in line with the regulations of the moment, a Solitaire refitted to take into account greater constraints and an event canceled in the event of a severe and lasting reversal of the situation in the implementation of the government deconfinement plan or regulations too heavy to allow the test to run smoothly ”.
The cancellation of the 51st edition is not excluded, but ...
The organizers of the race created in 1970 by two Aurore journalists do not therefore exclude a possible cancellation of the 51st edition. Nothing could be more logical, given the massacre in the sports calendar for the past two months. But they hope to be able to launch this edition with the original course (only French stopovers and a passage for the first time in Dunkirk) and complicated sportingly. "We think that the coming weeks will constitute an important phase to observe the evolution of the situation while allowing the authorities to specify in broad terms the modalities which will apply to us in September whether it is concerning the reception of sportsmen , that of the general public or the management of our organizational teams. This is why we have decided to set a deadline of June 15 to make an arbitration between scenarios 1 or 2 and scenario 3. In all cases, know that our team is at work in order to do the maximum so that the couse take place. "
Pending the final decision, the organizers have decided to postpone the closing of the pre-registration period from May 27 to June 10, but they asked the sailors, if possible, to announce as soon as possible their desire to participate in the race, and therefore their commitment. History to see more clearly on the possible number of starters. “It seems to us unreasonable to start organizing the event if there were less than 25 competitors. The skippers, who numbered 47 last year for the 50th anniversary edition on the new Figaro Bénéteau 3 foils are warned… And an appointment is made for June 15.
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