le defi

[mac33]

watched video of this marathon, looks like awesome event.
anyone want to share experience of race.
it looks like wind is coming from land to sea keeping water quite flat.
is it one race or many. how many kms is race.
how much to enter.
do u need lifevest/flares etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRI_H2IWNvc

[mim]

Hi,

wel I do not have actuall race experience since there was no wind last year. But I can give you some small info. The wind is full ofshore, the race course goes 800m out of the beach and is around 10km long. Each race is 4 times this leg...so total about 40km, maybe slightly more. There are normally not more than two races a day...the 2010 defi is planed to be one week long.

The minimum wind for racing is 20 knots, the maximum for amateurs is 40 knots on start...that would mean close to 50 knots at the end of the course.

The race is with rabbit start...a boat going 35knots is coming towards the beach and you start as soon as it passes your position. The start line as the whole course is 800m long/wide.

The fee is around 200 euro, where 50 isfor safety equipement (flare), after you give it back you get your money bach. Life jacket is not a must, but a camelback is...for normal people the race takes one hour, the camelback is because of safety during some unexpected problems...it might take some time till you get on the beach and to some source of sweet water to drink...so it is better to have a small camel back.

I can say it is a great expeirence and a lot of people with windsurf gear. So go for it.

PS: the water is flat only close to the beach as you go further downwind it gets pretty choppy.

Ciao Michal.

[Papounet]

Fee 80 € in 2009
Minimum wind 15 Knots Off shore, no race if On shore wind.
But the local wind "Tramontane" is a bit consistant...
60 Knots for the first race day off 2007 ( funny race for pro ), but usualy between 20 and 35 Knots with gusts at 40/45
No wind limite, but safety limite, start's only if safety boats can do theyre job on the water.
A safety buoy every 500 m at 800 m from the shore.


Races between 20 km and 40 km, the most we do, 3 in a day

French & English version ( you need a shit from Microsoft to enter )
http://www.defiwind.com/

Move the cursor on the bottom to see past years



The Playground :


Where in the world :
http://maps.google.fr/?ie=UTF8&om=1&...2&source=embed

[mim]

do not believe those 80 euros...this is only valid if you are a member of french association...

so for people from abroad the total price in 2009 is as follows:
80 euro is registration fee
25 euro is the licence
and 50 euro is a deposit for the flare

total makes it 155 euro.

ciao Michal.

[bbend]

I've been aware of this race for 3 years now, and would like join the race in 2010, but it is hard to find info about how and when to apply. It seems like its sold out pretty fast even with a limit of 1000 racers. Is it a "come first, first served" rule for the list, or not? I would think french windsurfers and pros have priority, and maybe also previous participants. Is there a waitinglist one can sign on so if you cant get a ticket for next year, the chance gets higher the following year?

I guess this can be regarded as "classified" information, in the same way as not revealing "secret spot" to avoid crowds, but I would be happy to get any info about this, at least how difficult it is to get a ticket, and hope not too many read this thread :-)

Bard

About 95% are French which is understandable.
Their website is hopeless, they dont answer e-mails and really are not very concerned about "waiting lists", foreigners and so on.
Of course, if you are a rosbif its even worse.......

[davide]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

About 95% are French which is understandable.
Their website is hopeless, they dont answer e-mails and really are not very concerned about "waiting lists", foreigners and so on.
Of course, if you are a rosbif its even worse.......

France is one of the few places in Europe where unless you speak French people are often very uninterested in trying to communicate with you. Very strange.

[Papounet]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

About 95% are French which is understandable.
Their website is hopeless, they dont answer e-mails and really are not very concerned about "waiting lists", foreigners and so on.
Of course, if you are a rosbif its even worse.......

2009 :
French => 800
Other countries => 100

No priority except for non french, who have more time to post theyre registration....

In 2008, only 800 racers, with +- 80 reserved for VIP & Foreign countries.

Registration start the monday at 0h00 ( registration docs available )
More than 700 demand posted in the day...

More than 2000 posted in 2 weeks....

The race starts the monday for Frogs, rosbifs have a bit more time (-;

[Farlo]

Hi Floyd, you're from the UK rignt? Many Frenchies may think you have suffered enough from insularity and will do their best to rescue you, whether they speak broken or good English;-)

Hi Davide, yes it was a broad, not necessarily true, statement. I guess you're Italian aren't you? I wonder where/why you found it difficult to communicate. Have you tried broken French? By the way, do you know that "Le Défi" means "La Sfida"?

[Floyd]

PS
I`m going down there end of October.Will find out more and post info.