Skipper Rodolphe Gautier presents the new-look Safram Ventilo M1, launched on Wednesday and outlines the team’s goals for the season in Switzerland and abroad.
Crans-près-Céligny (SUI), Switzerland, 8 June 2017 – With their first race of the season, the Geneva- Rolle-Geneva, starting this weekend, there is no time to lose for the Safram team, who have just finished a winter refit after an incident in Cowes during the Round the Island Race last year.
The team’s ambitions for 2017 are clearly set out, they aim to run a fun amateur campaign that races internationally and gets results thanks to an efficient and accessible choice of boat. With these objectives in mind, the boat has been developed to be more versatile, in keeping with the different types of sailing that it will do (Lake Geneva, Lake Balaton, Lake Garda and the Adriatic).
In addition to the new look, the 35-foot catamaran has been made wider, some of the sail areas have been increased, the appendages have been updated and ballast has been added to compensate for the removal of the racks.
Despite a late launch, leaving just two days to prepare the boat for the first regatta of the season, the crew are composed and determined.
The team continues to enjoy the faithful support of its sponsor, Safram, who have been part of the project since the very beginning. Safram is a European transport company of Swiss origin that provides industrial and commercial companies with reliable and high quality logistics services. Safram provides the sailing team of the same name with a trailer that carries the catamaran all over Europe.
We invite you to visit the Safram Sailing Facebook page for regular updates, photos and videos of the team.
Rodolphe Gautier (skipper) : Above all, we are in a race against time as far as our logistics are concerned to be on the start line of the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva, one of the classics on Lake Geneva, this Saturday. On paper, Safram should be more versatile than last year, but it is the great unknown, both for us and our competitors. With only a handful of sailing hours and almost no preparation time, we must be realistic and are approaching our first competition with humility. To finish well, first we have to finish!
Fabian Racloz (trimmer) : This is not the ideal start to a season. With just a couple of days to get the boat set up, we have revised our objectives for this event. But having said that, despite the incident in May, the team’s motivation is intact and we will do our best at the Geneva-Rolle and the Bol d’Or Mirabaud Christophe Hottelier (Safram director) : The whole company is behind the Safram M1, the team has had some bad luck and a challenging spring, but it is during these moments that you measure the value of a united team and above all realise how much our partnership makes sense. We wish them a strong come back!” |
Equipage 2017 :
Programme Safram 2017 :
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