The Watchmaker Richard Mille Sponsors a Classic Yacht Regatta

LONDON — Crusing fans in Falmouth and Dartmouth, off England’s southwestern coast, could have had a visible — and nostalgic — deal with this week, within the type of a brand new traditional yacht regatta that’s working throughout the English Channel to France.

The inaugural Richard Mille Cup, which started Sunday and runs via June 25, options 11 yachts relationship from the late Nineteenth century to the late Thirties.

Impressed by crusing regattas that have been held earlier than World Conflict II, the race “is a human journey but additionally an aesthetic and emotional one,” Mr. Mille, the watch firm’s founder, mentioned at a information convention in Paris final month.

The race began within the port of Falmouth, England, and ends at Le Havre in France, with stops at 4 landmarks: the Royal Cornwall Yacht Membership, the Royal Dart Yacht Membership, the Royal Yacht Squadron and, lastly, on the Société des Régates du Havre.

The boats compete in two classes: schooner and cutter. To be eligible, the yachts will need to have been constructed earlier than 1939 or be trustworthy replicas.

The race combines offshore passage races and inshore day races. “We hope this makes it a various problem and appeals to extra boats,” the organizer of the Richard Mille Cup, William Collier, mentioned on the information convention.

Individuals within the invitation-only occasion will compete not for prize cash however for a meter-tall trophy created by the storied British jeweler Garrard, which made the primary America’s Cup crusing trophy within the mid-Nineteenth century in addition to the sapphire engagement ring as soon as worn by Diana, Princess of Wales and now worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales.

The selection of the English Channel, and its notably difficult surroundings, was a deliberate selection for the occasion’s location. The concept, Mr. Mille mentioned, was to maneuver away from the “glamorous cocktail evenings” which can be usually related to crusing regattas within the Mediterranean.

“We’re on the lookout for tough situations, genuine situations,” he mentioned. “For us, it was essential to get again to the unique context of traditional crusing.”

The Swiss watchmaker is a longtime companion of assorted traditional automobile occasions, however this is likely one of the model’s first ventures into traditional crusing. (Final yr, the corporate grew to become an official sponsor of the Monaco Yacht Present, and for greater than a decade it has hosted a contemporary sailing regatta in St. Barthélemy.)

The Richard Mille Cup received’t be solely caught up to now, nonetheless.

The watchmaker has a presence within the race by way of Group Fife, which incorporates a fleet of three classic yachts together with Moonbeam IV, which is owned by Mr. Mille. Inbuilt 1914, the Moonbeam IV received the distinguished British King’s Cup in 1920 and 1923, and it’s now being skippered by a girl, Marianne Lebleu, with a primarily feminine crew.

In the meantime, a smaller Moonbeam vessel (not owned by Mr. Mille) incorporates a crew of sailors below 30.

“Normally the skippers are fairly previous, however we determined we needed to vary that — and didn’t wish to see grey hair throughout,” Benoit Couturier, Group Fife’s supervisor, instructed reporters. “It adjustments the entire dynamic of the undertaking.”