After Egypt, Groupe Bel is now mooring in Syria!

"We are leaving the sirens of the port of Alexandria, so dear to Clo-clo, to discover the Syrians of the Port of Lattaquie" wrote Kito de Pavant, from the Groupe Bel monohull chart table. Following the ambitious Bel Tchiz Tour programme, started in 2007 with its sponsor, the skipper never tires of sharing his magnificent red boat in the image of La Vache qui Rit® (The Laughing Cow) with Bel workers all over Europe and the world.

After England, the Netherlands and Morocco, the Group’s flagship is making a great tour of the Bel subsidiaries in the Mediterranean. Following a first stopover in Egypt, yesterday the monohull moored in Syria, where it will remain for a short week before heading for Turkey to be present on the starting line of the Istanbul Europa Race, at the end of August.

This is a dream trip, on board an exceptional boat, a treasure of technology with nearly 700m² of canvas and ready to take off at the slightest puff. Imagine the spectacle of the wake drawn by this thoroughbred in Alexandria Bay, at the foot of this ancient city, cradle of maritime commerce in the Mediterranean and today, Egypt’s first port.

This is an experience to take your breath away, which the skipper and his crew offered the Bel workers, as well as a few of their customers in Egypt. “These stopovers are part of the programme set up by Groupe Bel, including a full four-year sports calendar, as well as visits to the Group’s subsidiaries abroad, of which there are many located all over the world”, explains the sailor who has spent more than twenty years travelling the world’s seas by charter before returning to racing as he reached his forties. “The boat is primarily a means of going places. Racing is obviously important, but when we get a chance to explore a new destination with this kind of yacht, we set out on an adventure and we meet people and I enjoy this. I have always wanted to travel and Groupe Bel has given me the opportunity to do so. Particularly since at each stopover, we are given such an incredible welcome that I leave with my batteries recharged. And when I’m racing, I know what it represents to have all these people believe in this boat and myself.”

A human and international scale:

It is true that when the skipper and Groupe Bel drew up this sponsoring programme on the IMOCA circuit, it was obvious that racing was central to their concerns; however the project must also reach out to the Group’s workers and not just in France. Distributed in 120 countries, Bel products are made in 27 sites spread over the five continents and this kind of sports project displaying the colors of the Group and its brands has a duty to unite the 12,000 workers around this great adventure. “The first step was made in 2007 with the launching of the “Thumbs up for Kito!” campaign, which has resulted in the collection of more than 6,300 thumbprints on the Group Bel mast, which is more than half of the Group’s workers, from 13 different countries, who gave their thumbprint as a sign of their support f the skipper and their boat”, recalled Guillaume Jouët, Groupe Bel’s communications manager. “However, what a feeling when the boat is actually there, and the workers can chat with Kito and his crew! These are important times, particularly in countries in which offshore racing is largely unknown, such as Morocco, Egypt and Syria. For the last few months our Group has had a new logo and baseline which is “a smile shared” and every time our yacht makes a stopover in these subsidiaries, we see a magnificent illustration of this.

The tour goes on:

After two days of sailing in Alexandria, it was the turn of the 950 workers in the Egyptian subsidiary to embark Kito and his crewmen on a visit of the Cairo factory, where the Group makes brands such as La Vache qui Rit® (The Laughing Cow), Les Enfants® and Regal Picon®. “This very special day gave me a true idea of what Egypt is”, said the skipper. “with its contrasts, its mineral light, the capital that touches on the pyramids of Giza, mini tornados, mechanical diggers, and the difficulties of a people who attempt, with their strengths, to hold their own place in this cruel world."

In Syria, the monohull has taken up its mooring in the Lattaquie commercial port, located 350 kilometers from the capital, Damascus, where Bel has had a subsidiary since 2005. A visit of the production site and sailing trips are again scheduled for this stopover. This weekend, the monohull will go back to sea. She will then head to Istanbul where, once again, she will be welcomed by Bel workers in Turkey. After this, Kito and his crew will have a few days to themselves to get their yacht back into racing configuration for the important and first ever Istanbul Europa Race, a crew event leaving from the Bosphorus on 29 August in the direction of Nice, Barcelona and Brest.

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