What great recognition for the Grand Pavois La Rochelle, the show for real fans, which has been offered the chance to host the ETF 26 for the second year running in the frame of the ETF Series and the Grand Pavois Foiling Event! An event within an event organised by La Rochelle Nautique and the ETF Series.

ETF 26?
Inspired by the America’s Cup multihulls, in 2016, Jean-Pierre Dick (four-time winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre) and the architect Guillaume Verdier created the ETF 26 (Easy to Fly). A 26-foot catamaran (8.10 metres long and 4.30 metres wide) that offers all the chance to sail and achieve the excellence of flight aboard boats equipped with foils. Built and assembled in France, this sportsboat is designed to fly over a speed of 8 knots of wind and brings together crews with experienced skippers including many Olympic medallists, world champions in various disciplines and participants in the SailGP.
 
FROM TUESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER TO SATURDAY 1 OCTOBER
The Grand Pavois Foiling Event will be the 5th and final event of the ETF Series after Trinité-sur-Mer (Spi Ouest), Carnac (Eurocat), the Raid Quiberon and Lake Garda in Italy (Foiling Week). The Grand Pavois La Rochelle event will be decisive for the general ranking, even if it is currently dominated by Jean-Christophe Mourniac’s Team Pro (4 points) ahead of Charles Dorange’s Youth Foiling Team (11 points) and Matthieu Salomon’s Entreprises du Morbihan (13 points). Note that there are just 6 points between the current 2nd place and the New Zealander Olivia Mackay’s 7th place on Liv Ocean Racing… In other words, we will only know the final results after this last event in La Rochelle!
Note that this competition is organised by La Rochelle Nautique with the ETF Series and the support of the Grand Pavois La Rochelle. Ranking information on https://www.etf26.com/
 

WHO ARE THE TEAMS?
 
YOUTH FOILING TEAM 
After an admirable second place last year, Charles Dorange from La Rochelle is back for a third season in a row at the head of the Youth Foiling Team. Charles, three times ISAF youth world champion is the tactician and acts as number one on board. For this 2022 season, the skipper has chosen Pierre Boulbin and Jean-Baptiste Ducamin, with whom he also sails in 69F events (hydrofoil monohull), for his crew. After four events, the youngest team in the event still holds second place in the championship and will do its utmost to maintain this position right through to the end. 
 
LIVE OCEAN RACING 
Live Ocean Racing has been competing in ETF26 since the start of the season. Skippered by the New Zealander Liv Mackay, the team boasts some of the country’s best sailors, including the Olympic and world champions Jo Aleh, Molly Meech, Alex Maloney, Erica Dawson and Jason Saunders as the coach. Also competing in the SailGP circuit, the crew has quickly found its feet on the 26-foot catamaran and even finished second last week at Foiling Week on Lake Garda.
 
ENTREPRISES DU MORBIHAN 
Winner of the ETF SERIES in 2021 along with Billy Besson, Matthieu Salomon has been at the helm of the ETF26 11 since the start of the 2022 season along with Les Entreprises du Morbihan. Valentin Bellet, winner of the 2019 Tour Voile and a crew member on this boat last year, is also taking over the position of trimmer. The winners of last year’s event in La Rochelle, the sailors will be giving their all to ensure that they hold on to their title. 
 
LADY TEAM PRO 
This year, Team PRO has been joined by Lady Team PRO, a 100% women-only crew supported by NeoDB and Groupe Lon. Aboard, the French skipper and Olympic medallist, Mathilde Géron, is joined by Sophie Faguet, Lou Mourniac, and Lola Billy. The team’s aim for this first season is to allow the crew to get to grips with this new vessel for these female sailors, all from very different sailing backgrounds, so that they can play an increasingly important role in the competition’s various events. 
 
#TEAMBOURGNON 
Yvan Bourgnon is one of those rare people whose name will go down in the history of their sport. The Swiss sailor boasts a list of prizes that it would take too long to present, but he stands out from the crowd because of the variety of events he participates in: winner of the Mini Transat, winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre on an Orma trimaran, and several-times national champion on a sports catamaran, as well as a leader of many adventures, such as the first round-the-world trip on a sports catamaran. In short, the sailor is great all-rounder! For the third season running, Yvan is sailing with Mathis Bourgnon, his son, a regular on the Nacra F20, and Paul Melot. The three of them participate with great passion in the entire circuit with a view to finding themselves up against the very best.
 
TOROA RACING TEAM 
Originally teammates in Fast40+, Mark Rikjse and John Gimson (helmsman) moved into the ETF SERIES in 2021. Both passionate about racing and driven by a wish to experience the thrill of flight, the ETF26 was the perfect opportunity for them to express their passion. Mark, a yachtsman for many years, and John, the 2021 Nacra 17 World Champion and Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, are joined by several sailors with many titles to their names. Indeed, Anna Burnet, John’s Nacra 17 teammate and therefore also a silver medallist, occupies number 1 position and is the flight trimmer on the white hydrofoil catamaran. She was the first woman to join the ETF circuit. This year, Thomas Zajac, Nacra 17 medallist at the Rio Olympics (2016), Oli Greber, a former INEOS Britannia team member, and Tom Phipps have also joined the crew.
 
TEAM PRO 
After participating in the circuit since 2019, Team PRO, supported by Proclim, is now one of the major teams in the ETF SERIES and is competing in the circuit for the fourth season running. Jean-Christophe is one of the leading multihull specialists in France, with two Olympic participations on a Tornado, a World Champion title in F18, seasons in ORMA, Diam24, MOD70, Extreme 40, GC32 and TF35! This year, the skipper is competing with Benjamin Amiot and Pierre-Yves Durand, both multihull specialists. The team has found its place and refined its manoeuvres since the start of the season. It has given a very good performance winning the first four events on the circuit.
 
ROCK THE BOAT 
Since June, the SailGP Denmark team presented by Rockwool joined ETF26under the name ROCK the Boat, a new mixed-gender team composed of Katja Salskov-Iversen, Anne-Marie Rindom, Christian Peter Lübeck (SailGP), and Sebastian Wright-Olsen. Together, the four of them have participated six times in the Olympics and hold three medals, as well as three world championship titles. Thus, the crew is very strong thanks to its experience in a variety of events and its involvement aboard the Danish F50. This new initiative aims to offer the Danish athletes opportunities on foil vessels. The Grand Pavois Foiling Event will be their third one as a team. 
 
Pending confirmation, the Cool Runnings team is expected to be replaced by Team GBR, a women-only crew led by Hannah Mills (two-times Olympic medallist in light sailing).
 
General Ranking before the 2022 Grand Pavois Foiling Event:

1. Team PRO: 4 points
2. Youth Foiling Team: 11 points
3. Entreprises du Morbihan: 15 points
4. Toroa Racing Team: 16 points
5. Live Ocean Racing: 17 points
6. #TEAMBOURGNON: 22 points
7. Lady Team PRO: 31 points
8. ROCK the boat: 33 points

 
Further information: https://www.etf26.com/
ETF26 Press Contact: Laurent Simon – laurent@castelconcept.fr
La Rochelle Nautique Press Contact: Etienne de la Rivière – etienne.delariviere@larochellenautique.com