Irish offshore sailor Pamela Lee and French co-skipper Tiphaine Ragueneau, who together won the ‘Cap pour Elles’ program which gives a female duo the chance to race the Transat Jacques Vabre as their first Transatlantic race, have landed the support of a major partner ENGIE. It follows an earlier sponsorship announcement of the ferry firm DFDS/Britanny Ferries.
Lee (34 years old) and her French counterpart Tiphaine Ragueneau (30 years old), won the opportunity back in March and have been training, racing and preparing ever since. Even though they won the use of a competitive Class40 boat and are fully supported by the initiative, they were still lacking the final funding package to make sure they could compete.But now they will be able to race under the name of their boat: “ENGIE DFDS BRITTANY FERRIES”
The French industrial and energy group, ENGIE, will support Lee and Ragueneau, as they seek to complete the race from Le Havre to Martinique, as well as supporting the Cap pour Elles programme to increase female participation and empower women in sailing.“I am happy that ENGIE is supporting these two talented and determined young women in their transatlantic dream. All of our employees will be so proud to see the ENGIE colours flown by Pamela and Tiphaine in this legendary race. We wish them the very best of good luck!” says Claire Waysand, Deputy Managing Director of ENGIE and Vice-President of the ENGIE Foundation.
The duo have the support of two prestigious godmothers: international football referee Stéphanie Frappart and British sailor Sam Davies. The next key moment for the project will be the christening of the boat, ENGIE DFDS BRITTANY FERRIES, on Monday, October 23 at 2 p.m. in the Paul Vatine basin in Le Havre.
Pamela Lee is now in the final stages of preparing herself, her team and her boat for the marathon race predicted to take 20 days from Le Havre, France and arrives in Martinique
Pamela Lee said “ENGIE’s support is particularly valuable. It allows us to approach our final preparation calmly and carefully. We know that ENGIE is very involved in diversity and feminization and we are proud to carry the colors of this company on our sails. For our part, thanks to their support, we can focus on achieving a sports performance as well as taking care of reliability and the technical aspects. We have been working for several weeks to sail in as many conditions as possible to be ready for the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre.”
