lHydroptère launched in Lorient after 4 months in shipyard
by hydroptere.com 7 May 2010 09:21 BST
3 May 2010
l’Hydroptère is launched in Lorient after four months at the shipyard © Guilain Grenier /
www.martin-gaget.com
On 3rd May 2010, l’Hydroptère was launched in Lorient after four months at the shipyard. Lifted by crane in front of her shed, she was then moored at the pontoon of “La Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly”. She will stay there for one week, in order for the team to prepare and equip her for the first sailing sessions.
After having experienced very high speeds and achieved a double absolute sailing speed record in 2009, Alain Thébault and his crew members are now heading to the open sea. The “speed profile” of the trimaran has been transformed into a more versatile configuration which enables offshore sailing. Accompanied by his major partners – the Genevan private bankers Lombard Odier Darier Hentch & Cie and the watchmaking manufacture Audemars Piguet – Alain Thébault and his crew members will make a European tour until next autumn and will take part in all the great nautical events of the old continent.
l’Hydroptère will start at the end of May with a stop in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, known as the mecca of British sailing and headquarter of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Then the flying trimaran will head to Kiel in Germany. Each year the city welcomes approximately 3 million participants and visitors for the “Kieler Woche”, considered as one of the major world nautical events. After this first offshore navigation, l’Hydroptère will head back to her home marina at La Trinité-sur-Mer (Brittany) to carry out a quick intermediate technical check-up. Then Alain Thébault and his crew members will head to the Mediterranean, where both absolute sailing speed records have been achieved in 2009. l’Hydroptère will stay there until mid-October and will be present for the event “Voiles de Saint-Tropez” which will take place from 25th September until 3rd October 2010.
The European programme will be a great opportunity for Alain Thébault and his team of “flying acrobats” to sail in various offshore conditions, to meet passionate people and share the dream that they always supported.
l’Hydroptère’s stops in 2010:
From 31st to 4th June - Cowes (UK)
From 18th to 27th June - Kiel (GER)
From 1st September to 10th October - Mediterranean (FR)
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