February 16th, 2024

From February 19 to 23, the Class40 Sogestran-Seafrigo will participate in a must-attend classic of offshore navigation, the RORC Caribbean 600. On board, a 100% Norman crew. Guillaume Pirouelle, Alexis Loison, Pierrick Letouzé, and Valentin Sipan will set off from Antigua to traverse the Caribbean arc over a distance of 600 nautical miles.

 

The Caribbean600 : a great warm-up for the 2024 racing program!

This 600-mile non-stop sea race, starting and finishing at Antigua - Fort Charlotte, winds around eleven spectacular islands in the central Caribbean.

The "slalom" race between the Caribbean islands involves numerous maneuvers, wind shifts, and a single straight line of 140 miles out of a total of 600.

It requires a high level of skill and endurance from the participants, who race in strong winds thanks to the trade winds blowing intensely at this time of year.

Follow the race’s start on the RORC’s Youtube channel starting at 10:45 AM AST (-4 GMT) : https://www.youtube.com/@RORCRacing

Race fans and spectators can follow the race via the race website https://caribbean600.rorc.org, the RORC live blog and social media channels. Follow the fleet and all updates as the race unfolds.

 

A Norman crew

Guillaume Pirouelle will be at the helm of the Class40 Sogestran-Seafrigo and will bring on board his former co-skipper Alexis Loison (Transat Paprec 2021) who will be responsible for optimizing the use of the sails on board. Valentin Sipan and Pierrick Letouzé will complete the crew. They notably come from the Normandy Offshore Program, a system for detecting offshore racers set up by the Normandy sailing league since 2022.

 

Profiles and Achievements

Guillaume Pirouelle, skipper engineer Club : Le Havre Water Sports and Boating Achievements: Junior world champion in 470 and Olympic qualification (2015) Silver medalist of the European 470 Championships (2017) 5th place Transat Paprec (2021) 2nd in the Solitaire du Figaro (2022) 1st in the Sailing Tour of Brittany (2023) 1st in the Solo Guy Cotten (2023) 4th in the Transat Paprec (2023)
Alexis Loison, Skipper/Sailmaker Club : Cherbourg Yacht Club Achievements: Winner of the RORC Middle Sea Race Winner of the RORC Fastnet Race Winner of the RORC Sydney-Hobart Race 4th in the Solitaire du Figaro 2021
Pierrick Letouzé, skipper Club : Cherbourg Yacht Club Achievements: 2nd place in the Sailing Tour de France in Diam 24 (2021) 4th in the Normandy Channel Race 2020
Valentin Sipan, Engineer/Navigator Club : Le Havre Water Sports and Boating Achievements: Junior world champion in 470 and Olympic qualification (2015) Victory in the Sailing Tour de France in Diam 24 (2019-2021)

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