Today, on the occasion of the launch of the new championship for hydrofoil catamarans that are replacing the D35s, the professional team from Lausanne is announcing a partnership with a charity project that helps young people in remission from cancer. Winning on the lake and giving hope.
Realstone Group, the historic sponsor of Realteam Sailing, has decided to support the Lausanne-based team in a new way. Instead of displaying its name on the sails of the team’s boat, the real estate group will now offer this visibility to Léman hope. As of today, during the Grand Prix regattas to open the first season of the TF35 Trophy at the Société Nautique de Nyon (VD), the hydrofoil catamaran helmed by skipper Jérôme Clerc will carry the colours of this project, which aims to give confidence and optimism in young people in remission from cancer after the difficult ordeal they have been through.
“We are looking forward to a new season that promises to be exciting from a sporting point of view but also with a strong human character. This partnership between Realteam Sailing and Léman hope gives us strength and motivation. With the whole team, we want to win for these children, to support them. Our efforts to be ever more competitive make even more sense. “Jérôme Clerc, director and co-skipper of Realteam Sailing
“For Léman hope, this is an amazing gift because it allows us to create awareness on what we do to raise funds for our project. Every year, 250 children are affected by cancer in Switzerland. It is a terrible trauma that greatly affects the confidence of these young people. To help them rebuild their lives after hospitalisation and treatments that often leave physical and psychological after-effects, Léman hope takes young people in remission from cancer on a four-day, four-night sailing trip on Lake Geneva. The benefits of these sailing trips are clinically proven to re-build confidence. After the storm they have been through, it is a ray of sunshine to look forward to the future with hope. “Priscille Varillon de Macias, Leman Hope Project Director
“I am a lover of Lake Geneva. When you sail on this lake, you feel all the energy that comes out of it. Sharing this passion and offering this source of inspiration to young people in remission from cancer by making
the visibility of Realteam Sailing at the disposal of Léman hope made total sens. Realstone Group is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and is taking concrete steps to contribute to the goals of sustainable development from both an environmental and social perspective. Our goal is to have a real positive impact on our scale, just as Léman hope has a real positive impact for these young people. “Esteban Garcia, founder and president of Realstone Group and co-skipper of Realteam Sailing
Photos available on this link: photos (photo credits: Loris von Siebenthal)
Media contact:
Pascal Chavent, CPC
022 552 46 30
chavent@cpc-pr.com
About the TF35 Trophy
The TF35 Trophy is a unique championship offering a level playing field for the 7 participating professional teams. It replaces the former D35 Trophy after 16 years. The 2021 season, consisting of 5 legs, will start on Lake Geneva with three events in May and June and finish in September in the open water of Scarlino, Italy. The regattas will be sailed in four to six races per day on a banana course with upwind starts and downwind finishes. Each race lasts about 20 minutes. Points are awarded according to the standard World Sailing “low point system”. The boat that finishes first in a race gets 1 point, the second boat gets 2 points, etc. The crew with the fewest points at the end of each event is the winner. The Geneva-Rolle-Geneva and the Bol d’Or Mirabaud – the two major classics on Lake Geneva – are also on the programme for this inaugural season.
About Realteam Sailing
Founded in 2013, the professional sailing team Realteam Sailing was built with the crew that won the D35 Trophy and the Bol d’Or Mirabaud in 2012 on the boat Realstone Sailing. Led by skipper Jérôme Clerc, Realteam Sailing became an internationally recognised team in 2014 after a 3rd place finish in the Extreme Sailing Series on Extreme 40’s. While remaining on the D35 circuit, Realteam Sailing has successfully transitioned to foiling by sailing GC32’s and Flying Phantom since 2016. After winning the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour and being on the podium of the Swiss FP Series for three consecutive years, Realteam Sailing is embarking on the TF35 adventure with the same values that have driven it since its inception: precision, team spirit and excellence.
About Léman hope
Created in 2020, Léman hope is aimed at Swiss children and teenagers aged between 8 and 21 who have completed their cancer treatment in order to help them regain their self-confidence and look to the future with hope and optimism. Léman hope takes them on a four-day, four-night sailing trip on Lake Geneva. During these sailing trips, accompanied by a professional skipper and an instructor from the Association romande des familles d’enfants atteints d’un cancer (ARFEC), who was also affected by cancer as a child, the young people are introduced to the art of sailing, a world in which they are immediately empowered. Games, swimming and visits are also on the programme to rediscover the carefree spirit of childhood. The benefits of such an experience are clinically proven and the doctors of the paediatric oncology department of the Vaud University Hospital (CHUV) support the project. For its part, ARFEC puts Léman hope in contact with the families and offers logistical support to the project. Léman hope is inspired by a similar experience conducted since 2003 in Great Britain by the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust (EMCT), named after the famous sailor who initiated the project. The first Léman hope trip took place from 18 to 21 September 2020 with 7 children aged 13 on board two sailing boats.