A huge crowd strolling along the quays of Port-Camargue, generous sunshine bathing the bay of Aigues-Mortes: emotion and excitement were the order of the day on Sunday as the 25 competitors in this first edition of the MED MAX Occitanie - Saïdia Resorts, linking the port of Gard to the Moroccan marina, took to the water. Sixteen Class 40s, 12-metre monohulls, and nine Ocean Fifties, fifteen-metre trimarans, set off at the stroke of 1 p.m. towards the Sète buoy, the first mark on an unprecedented course, crossing the Mediterranean via its idyllic islands to the dream beaches of the Moroccan coastline. A start worthy of the Route du Rhum, from which the Med Max Occitanie - Saïdia Resorts has nothing to envy.