Tour Voile back to its roots
The Tour de France à la Voile, the famous multistage crewed event which saw many legends of the sport cut their teeth in offshore racing, is returning to an offshore, coastal and inshore format in one-designs, moving to the Figaro Beneteau 3 for 2023.
The Tour Voile, as it is widely known, has run every year since 1978 until lockdown restrictions paused it in 2020, and was where many of today’s pros made their name in the 1990s or 2000s racing Mumm 30s or JOD 35s. While largely a French event, it was famous for attracting sailors such as Russell Coutts, and the British Barlow Plastics team of Adrian Stead, Ian Walker and Tim Powell. Since 2015 it had been raced as an inshore ‘stadium-style’ event in Diam 24 trimarans, but the event rights holders and French Sailing Federation (FFV) have decided to switch the format more closely to its original, hoping to re-establish it as a proving ground for sailors from different countries in offshore racing.
“The Tour Voile has been the nursery for just about anybody who's done anything in offshore sailing in France. It's always been very competitive and very popular, and we wanted to put that back on the map,” said Marcus Hutchinson, who is developing the Tour with the Figaro class.
The new format is designed to be both cost and time-efficient using existing event logistics. Teams will sail the Figaro Beneteau 3s in a crew of four, of which two must be under 26 and at least one woman, over a two-week regatta. Crews can roster individuals in and out, as long as the onboard criteria are met.
Every year the event will race along two of the three main French sailing areas (Brittany, the Atlantic coast, the Med) with at least 20 starts scheduled over a two-week period including a mix of windward-leeward, coastal and short offshore overnight races. The 2023 event will start in St Quay Portrieux in North Brittany on 1 July, then move south to race on the Atlantic seaboard.
Crews can take part in a full season with coaching, just the main event, or other combinations, with costs starting from under €20,000. classefigarobeneteau.fr