Realteam Sailing inaugurates its sails in the colors of Léman hope

Today, to coincide with the launch of the new championship for hydrofoil catamarans replacing the D35s, the professional team from Lausanne is announcing a partnership with a charity project helping young people in remission from cancer. Winning on the lake and giving hope.

A long-standing sponsor of Realteam Sailing, Realstone Group has decided to support the Lausanne-based team in a new way. Instead of displaying its logo on the sails of the team's boat, the real estate group will now offer this visibility to Léman hope. Starting today, during the Grand Prix Opening regattas of the first TF35 Trophy season at the Société Nautique de Nyon (VD), the hydrofoil catamaran helmed by skipper Jérôme Clerc will bear the colors of this project, which aims to instill confidence and optimism in young people in remission from cancer after the difficult ordeal they have been through.

"We're really looking forward to this new season, which promises to be exciting from a sporting point of view, but also with a strong human dimension. This partnership between Realteam Sailing and Léman hope gives us tenfold strength and motivation. The whole team wants to win for these children, to support them.Jérôme Clerc,director and co-skipper of Realteam Sailing.

"For Léman Hope, this is a wonderful gesture because it raises awareness of what we do to raise funds for our project. Every year, 250 children are affected by cancer in Switzerland. It is a terrible ordeal that greatly undermines these young people's confidence. To help them rebuild their lives after hospitalization and treatments that often leave physical and psychological scars, Léman Hope takes young people in remission from this terrible disease on a four-day, four-night sailing trip on Lake Geneva. The benefits of these Segeltörns clinically proven. After the storm they have weathered, it is a ray of sunshine that allows them to set sail for the future with hope." – Priscille Varillon de Macias, Léman Hope Project Director

"I'm in love with Lake Geneva. When you sail on this lake, you feel all the energy that emanates from it. Sharing this passion and offering this source of inspiration to young people in remission from cancer by making
the visibility of Realteam Sailing available to Léman hope immediately seemed an obvious choice. Realstone Group is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and is taking concrete steps to contribute to sustainable development goals, both environmentally and socially. Our aim is to have a real positive impact on our own 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 here: 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 kick off on Lake Geneva with three events in May and June, then finish in September on open water in Scarlino, Italy. The regattas are contested in 4 to 6 races a day on a banana course with upwind starts and downwind finishes. Each race lasts around 20 minutes. Points are awarded according to World Sailing's standard "low point system". The boat finishing first in a race gets 1 point, the second boat gets 2 points, and so on. 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 great Lake Geneva classics - are also on the program for this inaugural season.

About Realteam Sailing

Founded in 2013, the professional sailing team Realteam Sailing was built around the crew that won the D35 Trophy and the Bol d'Or Mirabaud in 2012 on the Realstone Sailing boat. Led by skipper Jérôme Clerc, Realteam Sailing became an internationally recognized team in 2014 after a 3rd place in the Extreme Sailing Series on Extreme 40s. While remaining on the D35 circuit, Realteam Sailing has successfully made the transition to foiling, sailing GC32s and Flying Phantoms since 2016. After winning the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour and standing on the podium of the Swiss FP Series for three consecutive years, Realteam Sailing is embarking on the TF35 adventure with the values that have driven it since its inception: precision, team spirit, excellence.

About Léman hope

Created in 2020, Léman hope is aimed at children and teenagers in Switzerland aged 8 to 21 who have completed cancer treatment, helping them to regain their self-confidence and look to the future with hope and optimism. Léman hope takes them sailing for four days and four nights on pleasure boats on Lake Geneva. During these Segeltörns, 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 during his childhood, the young people are introduced to the art of sailing, a world in which they are immediately given responsibility. Games, swimming, and visits are also on the program to help them rediscover the carefree nature of childhood. The benefits of such an experience are clinically proven, and doctors from the pediatric oncology department at the Vaud University Hospital (CHUV) support the project. For its part, ARFEC puts Léman Hope in touch with families and provides logistical support for the project. Léman Hope is inspired by a similar project that has been running in the UK since 2003 by the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust (EMCT), named after the famous sailor who initiated the project. The first Léman Hope cruise took place from September 18 to 21, 2020, with seven 13-year-old children aboard two sailboats.