Tour de France a la Voile 2007 - Cherbourg to Paimpol Leg

Red spinnaker for Tahiti et ses Iles

The winner of this offshore leg, Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères, arrived a bit less than twelve hours after the departure from Cherbourg. A very tight race, after which Tahiti et ses Iles took the first place of the overall ranking, only one point and a half in front of Ile de France.

Erwan Israël, navigator on Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères tells us about the race: « we had a very good start after which we were been able to sail freely while crossing the Raz Blanchard. Still, we had an interesting match with Nouvelle Calédonie and Tahiti et ses Iles. Being first allowed us to concentrate on the speed. We’ve always been faster than the others changing the sails, this makes the difference”. Keeping up the pace: “This is the second offshore leg we win, as of now, we have to concentrate on every single race and we hope to see some results in Marseille”.

Only one minute and twenty-seven seconds behind Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères, Nouvelle Calédonie fought until the end. The navigator Dominic Vittet tells us about the situation: “we tried to attack in the channel of Paimpol, but it wasn’t a big hit. All the favourites were in the head of this leg, a pity; we would have liked to take their place in the overall ranking!” During such a long offshore leg, the start is decisive as the race is more or less a straight line”. The boat finished 55 seconds in front of Tahiti et ses Iles.

The Tahitians were still satisfied: “it was very tight, we did a great job” and the result can be seen in the overall ranking, “we got the Tetra Pak red spinnaker!” The two step difference was enough to remove Ile de France (Victor Lanier, Nicolas Pauchet) from the top of the podium. In the Amateur ranking, Ville du Port – Région la Réunion ((Marc Guessard, Gabriel Jean-Albert) takes the lead, in front of Bred (Sylvain Chtounder) and Saint-Malo Purflo Team SNBSM (Pierre Hingant, François Lebourdais). In the School ranking, Caisse d’Epargne – HEC – Ecole Navale (Hervé Gautier) keep the first place, four places in front of Les Saisies – INSA (Sylvain Leboeuf) and eleven places in front of Brest – Grandes Ecoles ENSIETA ESC (Loïc Le Garrec).

Glad to have sailed with a gentle wind in the sun, the crews will take their partners on board tomorrow for a coefficient zero - race in front of Paimpol – Côtes d’Armor. They will sail a 120 nautical miles long offshore leg towards Ecole Navale – Port Poulmic.