The 55th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec kicked off this Saturday afternoon in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) with the arrival of the Figaro BENETEAU 3 now moored on the Right Bank between the Guillaume le Conquérant and Gustave Flaubert bridges, and the inauguration of the Grand Départ Village of the race. The latter took place from 4 p.m. in the presence of Stéphane Nevé, Sailing Project Manager for the Paprec group; Nicolas Mayer Rossignol, Mayor of Rouen and President of the Rouen Normandy Metropolis, in charge of sports; Malo Le Peru, Project Manager for the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec and Julie Coutts, General Manager of OC Sport Pen Duick.
Please note in this press release:
The Grand Départ Village of the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec has been inaugurated.
The latter, located on the Right Bank between the Guillaume le Conquérant and Gustave Flaubert bridges, will welcome the general public until August 23.
Many free activities will be offered throughout the week.
Competitors' boats are moored in front of the Race Village.
While the Grand Départ of the 55th edition of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec will be given from the Bay of Seine on August 25 at 3 p.m., the boats of the 37 competitors competing in the main race of the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship as well as those of the eight duos registered for the Défi Paprec arrived today in Rouen, where they were expected before 2:30 p.m. While the people of Rouen and visitors were able to admire the boats on the Seine before their arrival at the pontoon, they were also able to attend the inauguration of the Grand Départ Village of the race, in the presence of the private and institutional partners of the race and its organizer, OC Sport Pen Duick. After the traditional ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. and the stroll through the alleys of the Village, the officials took turns on the Grande Scène at the end of the day, thus launching the festivities in the village. The City of Rouen, the Rouen Normandy Metropolis and Haropaport have each contributed their stone to making this Village a friendly place accessible to all.
A festival of entertainment on the quays
For a week, many activities will be offered free of charge to the general public on the quays of the Right Bank of Rouen. And there will be activities every day for all tastes and for all ages, starting with the presentation of the skippers which took place at the end of the day after the inauguration of the Village. Among the highlights of the week: sailing initiations on a schooner, autograph sessions by the skippers, visits to Figaro BENETEAU 3, or the traditional Journal de La Solitaire, which will take place every day on the Grande Scène from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. And which will allow everyone to discover the competitors. This beautiful popular festival marked by conviviality and sport will conclude in style with the departure of the boats on Friday, August 23 between 9 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. The latter will go down the Seine to the Bay of Seine, from where the Grand Départ of the race will be given on Sunday August 25 at 3 p.m., followed by that of the Défi Paprec 15 minutes later.
The Grand Départ of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec is also a great opportunity to discover or rediscover the capital of Normandy, which is hosting for the first time in its history the race that gave birth to many legends of ocean racing. Enough to allow everyone to spend a great week in Rouen while immersing themselves in the history of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec!
They said :
Sébastien Petithuguenin, Managing Director of the Paprec group : " Rouen celebrates maritime heritage through the Armada and the tall historic sailing ships. The starting village of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec promises to be fun, educational and festive, to also introduce everyone to this modern adventure that is ocean racing. An ocean race well represented with Fabien Delahaye, Guillaume Pirouelle and Alexis Loison, born in Rouen. Alexis, with 18 participations this year, is the most assiduous of his generation, having missed only one edition since his arrival on this circuit in 2006! We hope to inspire vocations. Inspiring the desire and allowing as many people as possible to access ocean racing is indeed the reason for Paprec's involvement in the Figaro circuit, with the Solitaire and the Transat Paprec. With my teams, we are also very happy about this departure in Normandy, a region where we are very involved in all our waste management businesses with more than 15 agencies and factories and nearly 800 people. A region in which we regularly invest to offer our industrial customers and communities the most suitable cutting-edge technologies to give value to their waste and transform it into new raw materials or green energies. The people of Rouen were thus able to come across our decarbonized household waste collection bins, running on gas. The departure on the Seine also promises to be spectacular and to recall the role of the Paris-Rouen-Le Havre axis in the decarbonization of transport, a role in which we are proud to play a role. To all the sailors of this 2nd edition of La Solitaire du Figaro under the Paprec banner, I wish an extraordinary adventure!
Eric Savant-Ros, Vice-President METEO CONSULT: " An unmissable and legendary event in offshore racing, La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec is once again taking us on an exceptional adventure this year. From Rouen to Cornwall in England, then to the Spanish coast, competitors will have to demonstrate lucidity in their technical and strategic choices, and finesse in their weather analyses. The finish in Loire-Atlantique promises to be spectacular, and as usual, nothing will be decided in advance. The Défi Paprec, which for the first time allows amateurs to participate in double-handed races in the first leg, will add spice to this already high-level competition, which the Figaro group has been proud to support for over half a century. "
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Mayor of Rouen, President of the Rouen Normandy Metropolis : " We are delighted to welcome the start of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec in Rouen! This emblematic race, a symbol of resilience in the face of adversity, confirms our status as a land of exceptional sport. At the foot of the majestic Pont Flaubert, we will light up the banks of the Seine as during the Armada, the largest gathering of tall ships in the world, celebrating our rich river and maritime heritage. We are ready to cast off and offer you an unforgettable spectacle. "
Julie Coutts, Managing Director OC Sport Pen Duick : " We are delighted that Rouen, a maritime and nautical emblem in France, is hosting the Grand Départ of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec for the first time. The arrival of the boats and the inauguration of the Village mark a week of festivities in the heart of the city and we are looking forward to welcoming the people of Rouen in large numbers. Multiple land and water activities are planned, allowing everyone, young and old, to discover the fascinating world of sailing and which will allow all those who wish to have a first nautical experience. I would like to thank the elected officials and the communities who made this possible. "
Jean-Bernard Leboucher, President of the Figaro Beneteau Class : “ For the first time, Rouen will host La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec and we are delighted. The boats will have to go up the Seine to Le Havre to reach the starting line at the end of the first welcoming festivities. We are already familiar with this configuration from previous editions that started in Bordeaux or Nantes. The Seine is wide and navigable, there will be no technical difficulties for the sailors. With this Olympic year, where many events will take place on this river, offering a procession of 45 Figaro Beneteau 3s will be a major spectacle. The first leg will send the competitors to Gijón, a new stopover abroad relaunched last year. Rounding the tip of Brittany and sailing in the Bay of Biscay from the start of the race shows its level of difficulty and the high level of the competitors. We are very happy to return to Royan, the stage town that welcomed us for the first time in 2022, and to conclude this edition in La Turballe. Loire Atlantique is a region committed to this event and no longer has to prove the friendliness of its welcome. Thanks to OC Sport Pen Duick, who once again managed to bring together exceptional stopover towns, some little-known and others popular with sailors, in the legend of La Solitaire .