The second edition of LA DRHEAM CUP-Destination Cotentin will kick off on Saturday 21 July at 11:00hrs with the DRHEAM TROPHY, whilst the race prologue will set sail on Monday 23 at 12:30hrs. The final preparations are in full swing ready to welcome the 80 competing boats.
In ten days’ time, La Trinité-sur-Mer in south-west Brittany will play host to the prologue for the second edition of LA DRHEAM CUP-Destination Cotentin, the DRHEAM TROPHY. Within the context of the Rêves de Large operation, the event will enable local children aged 9-11 from the Auray Quiberon Terre-Atlantique region to be part of the fun by sharing the daily life of a professional or amateur offshore racer over the course of a race spanning forty miles or so. “It’s not just about visiting a boat and going for a sail, it’s about getting first-hand experience of racing, so I think the day will give the children some unforgettable memories and hopefully some new vocations will be hatched”, explains Jacques Civilise, organiser of LA DRHEAM CUP-Destination Cotentin, on the initiative of this operation which is “all about passing on knowledge and sharing”.
These values will also guide the organisation team which, from 19 July, will host participants and the public in the race village at La Trinité-sur-Mer. The vast majority of the organisation team is female in line with the organiser’s wishes, who is naturally delighted to see several women signed up for LA DRHEAM CUP-Destination Cotentin. Indeed, there will be five in total: three in Class40 (Miranda Merron, Claire Pruvot, Morgane Ursault-Poupon) and two in Imoca (Sam Davies and Isabelle Joschke).
Thursday 19 and Friday 20 will be devoted to finalising the registrations and scrutineering the boats, whilst festivities will commence with the DRHEAM TROPHY on Saturday 21 July, before the start on Monday 23 July of the main OPEN event between La Trinité-sur-Mer and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. 80 boats will set sail on two courses, the first stretching 736 miles via the Fastnet and Wolf Rock, which will serve as a qualifier for the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, the second spanning 428 miles via Wolf Rock. Their progress can be tracked live via GEORACING, a real-time cartography interface.
This exceptional line-up has notably been made possible by the teams rallying together at the start and finish venues, whose support Jacques Civilise is particularly grateful for: “The teams at the ports have made a considerable effort to accommodate 80 such big boats and I’d especially like to thank the sailors come fishermen of Cherbourg, who have agreed to free up spaces to enable the whole fleet to access the commercial port (Bassin du Commerce), which is remarkable”. In short, everything’s in place, both in the Morbihan region and in the English Channel, to help ensure that LA DRHEAM CUP-Destination Cotentin is a high point for competition, sharing and festivity, so see you from 19 July.