30 entries for an XXL Normandy Channel race 2018

Normandy Channel Race Course © Normandy Channel Race

The 9th edition of the Normandy Channel Race, which sets sail from Caen on Sunday 27 May, is likely to become a race of superlatives. A reflection of the blossoming of the 40-foot monohull Class, some 40 days until the start of this Norman Classic the entry list now boasts no fewer than 30 boats; a record for the event launched in 2010 by Manfred Ramspacher: "A fleet of this scale has only ever gathered together for the Route du Rhum," explains the latter.

Featuring five nationalities, four mixed crews, three former event winners, the star players of the Class40 and offshore sailors from the Mini 6.50, the multihull and even the Imoca world... the Normandy Channel Race, a major objective for a large number of racers, promises an especially heady cocktail that sailors and fans of salty legends simply cannot get enough of with its close-contact racing, the constant jockeying for position and the uncertainty surrounding the final outcome.

As a result, some 30 skippers have answered the call of the Normandy Channel Race 2018, and its enchanting 1,000-mile course across the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Though there are still some uncertainties about a few of the projects on the final straight, the organisation remains confident about this record line-up, with a number of skippers continuing to express a strong interest in the event. The exponential growth of what is an increasingly attractive Class40 for sporting and economic reasons, for the lure of an original course, whose extreme diversity favours dramatic turns of event, for the Route du Rhum effect... whatever the reason, the Norman spring promises to be boiling hot from the beaches of the Calvados region to the Irish cliffs and back.

As is the case every year, there are a great many pretenders to victory with massive uncertainty cloaking the final result. Indeed, as Halvard Mabire, President of the Class40, is keen to stress, "In a Normandy Channel Race, it's not necessarily the boat of the year or the biggest budget that bags the win!"

Last year's brilliant winner, Anglo-Norman Phil Sharp, a native of Jersey, ranks among the last minute entries yet to name their co-skipper. He remains a serious contender in the bid to defend his own title against a cohort of familiar faces from the event, which once again includes the larger than life characters from the Class40, Nicolas Troussel, Maxime Sorel, Aymeric Chappelier, as well as Normans Mabire-Merron, Fabien Delahaye, Louis Duc, Nicolas Jossier, Claire Pruvot, Olivier Cardin, Benoit Charron, Marc Lepesqueux, Fabrice Troprès and Christophe Coatnan, and sailors as eclectic as they are outstanding like Adrien Hardy, Fred Duthil, Sydney Gavignet, Yoann Richomme and Ian Lipinski....

See you in May for the final list of teams and in the meantime, you can view the list of entries on 15 April on the website www.normandy-race.com / the race / skippers / entry list.