One month until the Bol d'Or Mirabaud
by Bol d'Or Mirabaud 18 May 2017 07:55 BST
16-18 June 2017
Lake Geneva © Loris von Siebenthal
The starting gun of the 79th edition of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud, the main Lake Léman sailing event of the season, will go off at the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) on Saturday, June 17 - only a month left before this grand sailing festival! This year, over 500 boats and 3,000 competitors, coming from the four corners of Europe and North America, will compete during the world's pre-eminent inland regatta.
The 2017 Bol d'Or Mirabaud edition, for which the ICRC will be the charity partner, should be especially interesting, rich in new features and challenges of all sorts. Below is a quick survey of the event and the people who will set the tempo for this 79th edition.
BOM17 – What's at stake
Dona Bertarelli and her Spindrift Racing team will try to win the Bol d'Or Mirabaud for keeps, a distinction offered to the team winning three out of the last five years. To put all the cards in her deck, the catamaran has been modified and the crew is focusing its lake racing season on two classic events.
Ernesto Bertarelli, Pierre-Yves Jorand and Christian Wahl could tie the record for number of outright victories, currently shared by Philippe Stern and Philippe Durr, each having won seven times.
Three times monohull winner of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud, the formidable Hungarian Libera Implantcentre Raffica, won the Bol de Vermeil for keeps in 2016. Nonetheless, she's back this year, with eyes on a new Bol!
The ACVL Trophy is awarded to the fastest monohull in corrected time, independently of boat size. The arrival time is multiplied by a coefficient attributed to each vessel, allowing midgets to beat giants. There are numerous favourites for this Trophy with Surprise one-designs often at the top of the ranking. We should also mention the Luthi F 10 Triumvirat, last year's winner, or her heir apparent, Ardizio, crewed by Dominique Wavre.
Who are the favourites for the BOM17?
Outright ranking
Dominating the Décision 35 class, Alinghi has its sights on victory, but won't be alone. The American Lloyd Thornburg acquired D35 Team Tilt, renamed Phaedo 2. He plans to do everything possible to take home the trophy, just like Dona Bertarelli and... all the other members of the class.
M2 Multihulls
Logically, victory should be repeated by a Ventilo M2 or won by flying catamaran Easy to Fly, also able to win the outright ranking if conditions are right. Twelve Diam 24 trimarans are also expected on the starting line. Race ambassador and 12th finisher in the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe Alan Roura will be aboard one of these.
Monohulls
The fight between the big Léman monohulls will be wide open, with the Hungarian Libera Implantcentre Raffica considered the favourite. Her adversaries will be the same is in recent years: the Psaros 40 Syz & Co, Oyster Funds and Outsider. And don't forget the mini Americas Class Taillevent.
An International Race aboard Diam 24od trimarans
The traditional "Celebrity Race" is renamed the International Race this year. This is an exhibition regatta that will be run aboard Diam 24od trimarans in front of the SNG, on a stadium style racecourse, with crews from the SNG's reciprocal and affiliate clubs as well as Alan Roura's crew.
The 2017 Bol d'Or Mirabaud is building up to be spectacular and exciting! We are looking forward to living this magic moment at your sides so please come and enjoy this grandiose show.
For more information visit www.boldormirabaud.ch