The story begins around 1977 - 78. The concept of Ariane's
Cup was born out of sailors' love for the sea. Exchanging tales at diverse work
meetings, their friendship grew and so did their desire to sail together and
compete against one another.
At this time, some of this year's crew members were just starting to attend
nursery school and dreaming to become astronautes.
In 1979 the first get-together sailing event was organized : about 10 boats
from 3 French companies met for a nautical rally at "La Trinité".
The first Ariane's Cup was a success. The participants were delighted and the
word started to spread rapidely - Ariane's Cup was born.
In 1982, the first European Cup was organised by Arianespace departing from
"Le Crouesty".
In 1984, it was SEP's turn to organise the cruise. The association Oscar was
created and Ariane's Cup became a well-known event : 45 boats, 8 participating
european contries.
Since then nautical meetings, organised either by the european space industry
or by the Oscar organisation, continued to happen every year, each one more
original than the previous one.
File of the Ariane's Cup and their winners :
1st edition : Fr-La Trinité, by Sep in 1979-Matra
(F) skipper J. Jouan
2nd : Fr-Grandville, by Aérospatiale in 1981-Sep
(F) skipper Roger Bouché-Pillon / Jean-jacques Auffret
3rd : Fr-Le crouesty, by Cnes-Arianespace in 1982-FN
Herstal (B) skipper A. Moreau
4th : Fr-Pornichet, by FN Herstal in 1983-Sep
(F) skipper Roger Bouché-Pillon
5th : Fr-Concarneau, by Sep in 1984-Sep (F)
skipper J-L. Bonniec
6th : Fr-St Raphaël, by Arianespace in 1985-Matra
(F) skipper A. Blanc
7th : Se-Marstrand, by Saab Space in 1986-Matra
(F) skipper Thierry Cipiere
8th : Fr-St Malo, by Oscar in 1987-Matra
(F) skipper Thierry Cipiere
9th : Fr-St Malo, by Oscar in 1988-Matra
(F) skipper Bernard Junk
10th : Fr-Hyéres, by Matra in 1989-Cnes
(F) skipper J. Garnier
11th : Ge-Kiel, by MBB Erno in 1990-Cnes
(F) skipper Bernard Delery
12th : Fr-St Malo, by Oscar in 1991-Matra
(F) skipper Bernard Junk
13th : Se-Stockholm, by ABB Hafo in 1992-CRI
(DK) skipper S. Arleth
14th : Fr-La Trinité, by le Cnes in 1993-Dassault
(F) skipper C. Charbonnier
15th : Gr-Athènes, by Oscar in 1994-MMS
(UK) skipper L-A Vaughan / Regis Lafond
16th : Fr-La Rochelle, by Aerospatiale in 1995-Dassault
(F) skipper A. Levy
17th : Fr-Pointe à Pitre, by Arianespace in 1996-Dornier
(G) skipper I. Wilder
18th : Fr-St Malo, by Oscar in 1997-MMS (UK)
skipper John Watson
19th : Es-Baléares, by Intespace in 1998
- Aérospatiale (F) skipper François Pellet
20th : Grenadines, by Oscar in 1999 - Cnes
(F) skipper Gérard Blondeau
21st : Fr-Bandol, by Cnes in 2000 - Form
Tech (D) skipper Werner Beck
22nd : The first Ariane's cup of the third millenium
Fr-Le Crouesty, by ESA
/ Oscar in 2001 - EADS HQ (F) skipper B.
Boime
23rd : Ge-Heiligenhafen, by Astrium in 2002
- EADS HQ (F) skipper B. Boime
a book "souvenir"
of these 22 first events is produced by Astrium.
24th : Gr-Lavrio, by Oscar in 2003 - MESSER
- DLR (D) skipper Hans J Gaehrs
25th : Fr-Le Crouesty, by Oscar in 2004 -
Form Tech (D) skipper Werner Beck
26th : Fr-Around La Martinique, by Oscar in 2005
- Telespazio (It) skipper Gianni
Riccobono
27th : It-Formia - Italian Riviera, by Telespazio in 2006
- Astrium Ltd (UK) skipper Carol Lo
28th : Gb-Portsmouth - The Solent, by Astrium UK in 2007
- Astrium Les Mureaux (Fr) skipper Alexander
Dahm
29th : Fr-Lorient, by Astrium les Mureaux in 2008 - CNES / CLS (Fr) skipper
Jacques Stum
30th : Fr-Marseille, by Arianespace / Oscar in 2009 -
Bauhaus Luftfahrt (D) skipper Andreas Wittmann
31st : Fr-La Martinique, by Oscar in 2010 - DGA-Bruz (F) skipper Phillipe
Lauden
32nd: Fr-Cannes, by Thales Alenia Space, in 2011 - Astrium St Médard
en Jalles (F) skipper Yann Guillou
33rd : Fr-Le Crouesty, by Oscar in 2012 - Eurocopter (D) skipper Axel
Van de Vyvere with Teruel (First 36.7)
34th : Gr-Athenes, by Oscar in 2013 - Astrium Friedrichshafen (D) skipper Hans-Martin
Hell with Poseidon (Oceanis 46)
35th : Fr-Lorient, by Oscar in 2014 - RUAG Zurich (CH) skipper Sandro
Bussinger with Artemis (Oceanis 43)
36th : Fr-La Martinique, by Oscar/Ruag in 2015 - DGA-Bruz (F) skipper Phillipe
Lauden with Barbuda (Lagoon 440)
37th : Fr-Le Crouesty, by Oscar/DGA-Bruz
ln 2016 - Mercator/Copernicus (F) skipper Clément
Bricaud with Gauvain (first 31.7)
38th : Fr-La Trinité, by Oscar in 2017 - Airbus DC skipper Thierry
Poncin with Tchanque (oceanis 50).
39th : Hr-Trogir par Oscar (Lookme Ltd)
in 2018 - Daimler-Stutgart (D) skipper Jan Krueger
with Gerschwin (Bavaria 46)..
40th : Fr-Le Crouesty par Oscar in 2019 - Airbus DS-Toulouse (F) skipper Amaury
Pigeon with Lohengrin (Dufour 40 from CFC La Trinité)
------2020 : Ariane's cup postponed because of bat influenza epidemic.
------2021 : bis repetita
41st : Fr-La Martinique, by Oscar in 2022 - Apco-technologies-Aigle (CH) skipper
Pierre-Fabrice Verdan with Melody Nelson (Lagoon 42 from Alternative sailing)
42nd : Gr-Lavrio, byOscar in 2023 - Apco-Technologies
Aigle (CH) skipper Pierre-Fabrice Verdan with Bella (Oceanis 45 from Ego Charter).
43rd : Fr-Le Crouesty in 2024, by Oscar - GO WIN ! YOUNG MAN....:
?.
(and next ?).
