Sutton Harbour will host another international sailing event this summer, just months after Plymouth’s historic waterfront was the setting for world-famous sailing race The Transat bakerly.
The Plymouth to La Rochelle Revival Race is organised by the Yacht Club Classique in France in association with the Royal Western Yacht Club of England (RWYC) and held every other year, last taking place in Britain’s Ocean City in 2014.
This summer, the popular race will see 48 French and British classic boats berthed in Sutton Harbour from Sunday 10th July until they depart Plymouth on Tuesday 12th July for the 600km race to La Rochelle in France.
Visitors will be able to view the classic sailing yachts ahead of the race, including the 28-metre long Notre Dame des Flots, which will not compete but will moor alongside the quayside to add atmosphere to the event.
The Plymouth to La Rochelle Revival Race will be followed weeks later by the enormously popular annual Sutton Harbour Classic Boat Rally, this year taking place from Friday, July 29th until Monday, August 1st.
Both events follow Sutton Harbour’s hosting of international sailing race The Transat bakery, when some of world’s top sailors berthed in the harbour before embarking on the single-handed trans-ocean race, leaving Plymouth for the 3,000 journey to New York on May 2nd.
Charlotte Malcolm, Commercial Marketing Manager for Sutton Harbour, said: “The Plymouth to La Rochelle Revival Race attracted hundreds of visitors to Plymouth’s waterfront in Sutton Harbour the last time this great event was held in 2014, showcasing the spectacular seafront setting our city enjoys, and we are expecting similar interest again in 2016.
“This is an especially busy year for Sutton Harbour with so many world-class sailing events being held in the historic waterfront quarter, and helping to put Britain’s Ocean City on the map as a destination for international sailing excellence.”
The Plymouth to La Rochelle Race has been a popular event in the sailing calendar since the first race was held in 1939, the event having been created by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) with the support of the Société des Régates Rochelaises (SRR) and the Royal Western Yacht Club of England (RWYC).
Following a break during World War II, the race resumed in 1947 and continued until 1981. The race was revived in 2012 and is now a biennial event. This year, 48 classic French and British yachts have already confirmed their involvement.
For more details about events in Sutton Harbour, visit www.visitsuttonharbour.co.uk or follow @Sutton_Harbour on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/suttonharbour
To find out more about the Plymouth to La Rochelle race, visit www.yachtclubclassique.com/plymouth-la-rochelle-2016