Final arrangements ahead of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

Les Voiles de Saint Tropez © Gilles Martin-Raget / www.martin-raget.com

It's the home straight and the final arrangements are being tweaked by the team from the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, responsible for organising the largest gathering of modern and classic yachts, before the curtain rises on the 15th edition of Les Voiles de Saint Tropez on 27 September. By way of an opener, the arrival of the classic yachts participating in the Yacht Club de France's Coupe d'Automne is expected in the bay of Saint Tropez on the afternoon of Sunday 28, whilst the modern boats will open proceedings on Monday 29 – accompanied this year by the 15mJIs – before everyone hits the race zone from Tuesday 30 September onwards.

300 competing boats

For the fifteenth year, Les Voiles de Saint Tropez will play to a full house, and though 300 of the finest classic and modern boats have managed to secure an entry ticket, nearly a hundred haven't been able to gain access. "Once again, the priority for us is safety," explains André Beaufils, President of the Société Nautique. "Around 150 of the boats that have been signed up for Les Voiles have a berth in the port of Saint Tropez. The traditional boats are with the Wallys in the Vieux Port, whilst we've made it obligatory for the others to have a space in one of the ports around the bay. Essentially, we want to avoid needlessly putting the competitors, who would otherwise be on a mooring, in danger in the event of a gale." All the guest participants are reminded that the utmost vigilance is demanded during racing and this advice also extends to anyone using the race zone. ''During Les Voiles, sailing in the bay and the surrounding area is an extremely tricky exercise. Primarily, this is due to the competitors' movements during racing, but the situation is further complicated by the large number of spectator craft. As such, the exclusion zones must be strictly adhered to and the utmost care is required for boats wishing to sail during the races, and all the more to follow their progress."

A Club 55 Cup with 4 hulls and 6 masts

Thursday is a rather special day at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez as it gives competitors free reign to compete against whomever they so wish, the only proviso being to inform their opponent(s). Thursday is also synonymous with the Club 55 Cup theatre, which was revived back in 2003. Though last year the official competitors in this unrivalled cup, Altaïr and Moonbeam, finally made the Club 55 in a horse-drawn carriage, a surprise arranged by the organisers to overcome the day's gale, no fewer than three boats valiantly confronted the lumpy waters of the bay, which is why there will be two duels in this year's Club 55 Cup! Moonbeam III and Lelantina, and Altaïr and Halloween. It is also a way, in this year of transition, of making potential candidates aware of the fact that the rule has evolved and from 2015 requires the owners to be aboard the boats participating in the Club 55 Cup. So which will have the upper hand amongst the gaff or Bermudan cutters with their single masts, or the beautiful gaff schooners with their two masts and their countless sail combinations...? It's anyone's guess!

The festival of all sailing has to offer

Modern or classic boats: the worlds of inshore racing, inshore or offshore cruising and ocean racing will come together as one at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, to share in the delights of sailing on the finest boats in the world in perfect harmony. "The Wallys will be tomorrow's classics," Luca Bassani likes to remind us. ''Today's classics were genuine revolutions when they were launched". This surprising end of season 'jamboree' is obviously a melting pot of international culture where France's big names rub shoulders with their counterparts from right across the sailing galaxy. The story goes that 3D weave, one of the most radical innovations in the technology of racing sail manufacture, was envisaged one evening on a quayside in Saint Tropez. And so it is that you find sailors from all different countries and all different backgrounds in the town's docks and bars until late into the night: solo sailors from the Route du Rhum, the Figaro or the Vendée Globe, stars of the America's Cup and familiar faces from the modern or classic circuits, crewed round the world sailors, single-handers making an anticlockwise circumnavigation and Atlantic rowers...

Among the stars this year: Florence Arthaud, Luc Alphand, Brad Butterworth, Paul Cayard, Sébastien Col, Catherine Chabaud, Maud Fontenoy, Murray Jones, Sébastien Josse, Philippe Monnet, Lionel Péan, Marc Pajot, Marie Tabarly, Marc Thiercelin, Bruno Troublé, Graham Walker and Tom Whidden.

Les Voiles de Saint Tropez hits Paris thanks to Kappa!

The warm wind of the bay of Pampelonne is blowing at 'Les Voiles' restaurant in Paris, in the city's 17th district. The initiative has come about as a result of its owner, Christophe Huchet, a descendant of Jean Castel, a famous host of rather special soirées in Paris and Saint Tropez, as well as a highly skilled member of the Yacht Club de Paris. He was also the former owner of the classic yacht Sincerity, a very fine Blaglietto-design Marconi ketch measuring some 30 metres in length and launched in 1928, which was among the participants in the Nioulargue. "Thanks to Kappa, my team is kitted out in the coloured of Les Voiles 2014, but I wanted to take things one step further by asking the Chef to concoct a Les Voiles de Saint Tropez Special Menu available throughout the event period."

Of note is that Kappa, Les Voiles' clothing partner, whose colours are to be sports by over 150 volunteers out on the water and on land, will again kit out the crew of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez' 15mJI Mariska.

The entire Kappa Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2014 collection can be viewed at www.les-voiles-de-saint-tropez.fr