Before the launch of the Sail GP in Saint-Tropez, the skippers set out to sea to observe the Posidonia meadows

Before slipping into their wetsuits and sailing at full speed across the waters of the Gulf, the Sail GP skippers donned their masks and snorkels to discover the marine world. An excursion organized off the coast of Graniers Beach, before the start of the competition scheduled for this Friday at 1:30 p.m.

" It's an opportunity to better discover the local environment and, above all, to examine the Posidonia meadows. We're trying to mobilize our teams on the subject," he explains. Hugo Miller, head of the organization's sustainable development department.

Among the athletes present for this sea trip were Timothé Lapauw, a member of the French team, and his friend Arnaud Jerald, world freediving champion and current world record holder for constant weight in bi-fins with 126 meters.

" It's a pleasure to come and discover Saint-Tropez thanks to events of this magnitude. The land's resources are precious and the ecosystem is rich," comments the athlete, originally from Marseille.

A sustainable solution for the seabed

During this trip, which also brought together international participants, an eco-friendly invention was presented by the Pure Ocean endowment fund. This Marseille-based organization has designed an ecological buoy called " Floating Reef ," capable of protecting Posidonia seagrass beds.

" The repeated anchoring of pleasure boats damages this plant. Once uprooted, it takes a century for it to regenerate. We absolutely must think of new methods to preserve our aquatic environment ," explains Charlie Mathiot, scientific coordinator. Made from corks, this structure creates an artificial reef for plant species and fish. " It will be attached to a mooring buoy and a surface-mounted mooring buoy. It will prevent boats from anchoring directly to the seabed ," he continues.

Begun four years ago, the beginnings of the project were shown during the competition in 2022: " Today, we have completed the reflection and conceptualization phase. Last December, we installed the first equipment in Marseille ."