Queen Mary 2 takes on yachts in trans-Atlantic race

The Queen Mary 2, one of the world’s biggest passenger ships, is to take on four trimaran yachts in an unlikely trans-Atlantic race in June, organisers said on Friday.
Sponsors have paid six million euros ($6.4 million) to hire the 345 metre, 151,000 tonne liner for six days to sail between Saint Nazaire in France and New York, according to chief organiser Damien Grimont.
Four of France’s leading ocean racing skippers Francois Gabart (on Macif), Francis Joyon (Idec), Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim) and Yves Le Blevec (Actual) will take part in The Bridge race starting on June 25.
With a cruising speed of 28 knots, the Queen Mary 2 normally takes about six days to cross the Atlantic.
“It will leave on Sunday at 7.00 pm and arrive on the Saturday at 7.00 am,” said Grimont. “According to the statistics, there is a 10 percent chance that the Queen Mary 2 is beaten.”
The trimarans will need “exceptional” weather conditions to hope to go faster than the cruiser, added Grimont, a former ocean racer who has spent five years preparing this adventure.
“Mounting the leasing of the Queen Mary 2 took two and a half years of work with the English. Signing the deal took one and a half years, I honestly thought we weren’t going to make it,” he said.
But 78 companies are backing the project, part of which aims to bring the Queen Mary 2 back to the French port where it was built in 2002-2003. Fifteen people were killed in November 2003 when a gangway from the ship to the quay collapsed.