parrain

09:07 Apr 7, 2017 

Really top quality help from you all. Much appreciated.

23:40 Apr 6, 2017 

Excellent suggestion and a good fit for Sheila's context.
I do a lot of work for organisers of yacht races and "parrain" can often describe the event's main sponsor. In prestigious events, this type of thing is negotiated behind closed doors and the choice of term is too!
As I have indicated in my comment to your post, as there is an identifiable figurehead, an individual yachtie (professional yellow-wellie, as one of my friends used to say), your suggestion is spot-on.

17:12 Apr 6, 2017 

I'm afraid it's nowhere near being a new event - in fact it may have been going longer than he's been alive :). It's just this year's running of it.

I noticed ambassador in Julia's link, and it seemed logical. I think your links really do confirm it. Would you mind posting it as an answer?

16:52 Apr 6, 2017 

As here
Depuis la première année, la tradition est de nommer un « Parrain » des Voiles de Saint-Barth, afin de donner à chaque édition un esprit particulier.
https://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/blog/ken-read-heureux-...
Since the first year of Les Voiles de Saint Barth, the tradition has been to name an “ambassador” for the event, in order to give each edition it’s own spirit.
https://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/us/ken-read-ambassador...

16:39 Apr 6, 2017 

@Sheila and Julia,
I believe that "pioneer" would fit, provided that the person must have been the person who initiated the event.

16:36 Apr 6, 2017 

I was thinking somewhere along the lines of one interpretation of the term "godfather" in English (meaning 2 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/godfather) - perhaps I'm wrong to think the French may use it similarly. I've seen "moteur" as a synonym, so the idea of a "driving force" may not be incorrect. Is it a new event? Could it be something the racer has had a pioneering role in/helped launched? Of course, I could be leading you way off track!

16:26 Apr 6, 2017 

Well, it doesn't seem to fit any of the definitions here: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/patron
Actually, I think Julia and Polyglot may have a point. Is that sentence that I thought was easy to translate actually the problem one? Am I sure it's been named after him? Well, I was... but I'm not so sure now.

16:23 Apr 6, 2017 

perhaps you could talk about "a rising star who plans to go far"?

16:17 Apr 6, 2017 

... discussions on this subject on wordreference: http://www.wordreference.com/fren/parrain. Just to throw a spanner in the works, are you sure that the race has been named for the racer? Is it possible that he is "the man to beat"?

15:58 Apr 6, 2017 

@Sheila,
I think Philgoddard's suggestion looks pretty reasonable.

15:56 Apr 6, 2017 

Why don't you like "patron"? That seems the obvious choice. I'd like to put it as an answer, but I thought I'd check with you first.