Veolia Environnement Announces Participation In Extreme Sailing Series At Cowes Week

Round the World sailing legend Roland Jourdain has thrown his hat into the ring and will be entering his Extreme 40, Veolia Environnement, into the Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes Week this year, bringing the fleet to nine in total. One of the World's very best ocean racing skippers, Jourdain is a two-times IMOCA World Champion and has won the Transat Jacques Vabre twice as well as the infamous Route du Rhum.

Credit : Martinez/ Sea&Co/ OC Events

Swapping long-haul ocean racing for the short racecourses the circuit has become renowned for will certainly challenge the skipper from Quimper, France, who for the past 15 years has been focussing on long-course monohull racing since being crowned Formula 40 World Champion in 1989, the catamaran made famous in the Hollywood movie, The Thomas Crowne Affair.

Jourdain commented, "Our participation in Cowes Week in August is an excellent occasion for us to be up against the big champions from all countries. I hardly sailed multihulls for the past ten years so it will be a tough task, but it will be a pleasure to be on the Formula 40s of the third millennium."

Joining Jourdain will be experienced Extreme 40 sailor Jean-Christophe Mourniac, former French National Match Racing Champion Philippe Legros and America's Cup veteran and experienced match racer, Christophe André, who raced in 2009 in both the Kiel and Amsterdam Extreme 40 events with LUNA.

The Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes Week will see more racing than ever before with six days of action right off the shorefront at Egypt Point every afternoon. For the first three days racing will be from 3pm and for the final three days the shore side entertainment will start from 4pm to ensure as many competitors taking part in Cowes Week will be able to enjoy the action.

As part of the Extreme Sailing Series' initiative to engage with the wider community, Veolia Environnement will be supporting the charity Plan France, the French arm of Plan International, one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world, founded over 70 years ago.

From Extreme Sailing Series