The Tour de Belle-Ile is a nautical event created in 2008 by eol (French

sports marketing Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades; however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...

company) and open to all

sailing yachts A sailing yacht (US ship prefixes SY or S/Y), is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applie ...

measuring 6,50m or more. The Tour de Belle-Ile measures around 41 nautical miles: starting from the middle of the bay of Quiberon (

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), rounding of

Belle Île Belle-Île (), Belle-Île-en-Mer (), or Belle Isle (, ; ) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département in France, département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon peninsula. Admini ...

leaving the island to port and returning to the departure/finish line. During the event, which takes place traditionally on the weekend of 8 May, the tent village of the race is put up on the harbour of

La Trinité-sur-Mer La Trinité-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany, in north-western France. Inhabitants of La Trinité-sur-Mer are called ''Trinitains''. It is located east of Carnac. The town is primarily a port, with a seaside q ...

. The special feature of this event is to welcome professional skippers as well as amateur sailors who are not used to take part in sailing races. The Tour de Belle-Ile brought together 115 sailing yachts in 2008, 281 in 2009, 329 in 2010 and 486 in 2011, becoming the first sailing race in France (in terms of number of boats participating) ahead of the Spi Ouest France and Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. In 2011, the round of the race is modified and the yachts have to sail via the channel of La Teignouse on the way out and on the way back, due to environmental obligation. In 2011, the organisation rewarded the 1st

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...

of the scratch ranking with a special prize, the trophy Michel Malinovsky. This trophy pays tribute to Michel Malinovsky, who was famous for his 2nd position in the

Route du Rhum The Route du Rhum is a wikt:transatlantic, transatlantic Single-handed sailing, single-handed yacht racing, yacht race, which takes place every four years in November. The course is between Saint Malo, Brittany, Metropolitan France and Pointe-à- ...

1978 on his monohull Kriter V, 98 seconds behind Mike Birch on a small

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one Hull (watercraft), hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, wi ...

, and died in August, 2010. The Tour de Belle-Ile has a reputation to be the French equivalent of

Round the Island Race Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypto ...

List of winners

* 2008 : Anne Caseneuve (croisières Anne Caseneuve), 6 h 48 min and 24 sec * 2009 :

Francis Joyon Francis Joyon (born 28 May 1956) is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on '' IDEC SPORT'' (40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds), nearly five ...

(IDEC), 8 h 34 min and 19 sec * 2010 : Yves Le Blevec (ACTUAL), 3 h 24 min and 52 sec * 2011 : Sébastien Josse (Gitana 11), 2 h 42 min and 00 sec * 2011 : Trophy Michel Malinovski :

Franck Cammas Franck Cammas (born 22 December 1972 in Aix-en-Provence) is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two-year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, ...

(Groupama 70), 3 h 23 min and 14 sec

External links

tourdebelleile.com
Sailing competitions in France Sailing competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2008 {{Yachtracing-stub