Grand Prix Petit Navire - Day 9

The festival of wind and sun

It’s been a beautiful day over Douarnenez with both sun and wind out in force to satisfy the appetite of the riders, the bit between their teeth, keen to take off. For the 87 Dragons still racing, the time has come to begin working out how they’ve performed after three races in the Grand Prix Petit Navire, safe in the knowledge that from the fifth race, the worst result can be removed…

Humility

“What I’ve learnt about this series is that when there are so many boats, nearly 100 in all, if you always come in the top 20, you’ll be in the top 10 in the general. I’ve also learnt that you could be in the leading group in one race and right at the bottom of the rankings in the next. You need a lot of humility to survive in the Dragon class” explains Bruno Peyron, who only sails Dragons once a year and has perfectly illustrated his words through his performances to date. “Yesterday I was exhausted. You have to helm the Dragon with your head. You don’t have any physical sensations. You don’t helm with your bottom as you do on other series. Suddenly you realise that it requires a huge amount of concentration”.

On FRA 360, Bernard Stamm confides that “without Nono (Jourdren) we wouldn’t be here. He’s the one at the helm who decides just about everything”. Since yesterday, Servane Escoffier has joined Stamm, Jourdren and Delbarre “to make up the weight, but we’re still lacking 20 kilos” admits Stanislas Delbarre. In fact the maximum weight in the Dragon class is 285 kilos and normally three crew sail onboard. On Ar Gwelan, there are four lightly built sailors who nevertheless managed to sail a blinder in the light conditions. Jimmy Pahun, aboard the British boat GBR 716, is sailing with Gavia Wilkinson Cox, second in the Gold Cup 2008 and considered to be the best helm in the Dragon class. “Very often, when there are women at the helm, they’re in the top 10 in the ranking” explains Gavia, who nevertheless sails 100 days a year. “We’ve been racing under a black Flag* since the first race. I hope we can get over it” confided Jimmy prior to the start this morning.

“A small effort can go a long way” said Yann Kersalé (FRA 355) as he left the pontoon this morning, the wind easing as the passing drizzle was quickly chased away and forgotten about, replaced by 14 to 15 knots of W’ly wind, a fine swell and glorious sunshine across the bay of Douarnenez.

Today’s race was won by DEN 396 (African Queen), who finished 33rd in the second race in which RUS 27 (Annapurna) took victory, followed by two other Russian crews, RUS 77 and RUS 71. The first French crew in the first race, FRA 360 (Ar Gwelan) finished 61st in the last race of the day. Proof, if need be, that in the Dragon class “you need a lot of humility…”

Five races have already been run in the Grand Prix Petit Navire Dragon. At the end of these and prior to the jury’s decision, UKR 8 skippered by Evgeniy Braslavets is leading the way on 16 points. RUS 27 is on its tail with 21 points, then UKR 9 with 25 points. The top French crew overall is still that of Bruno Peyron, 8th on FRA 330.

*Merciless, the black flag rule is applied to settle overly excited fleets during the starts. It sanctions any boat over the start line during the final minute of the start procedure. The offender is then disqualified from the race.

Foil or no foil?

Whether you are for or against, whether you want to make a separate class of it or not, foils have recently made their entrance into the Kite world. The ultimate weapon to stand out in light wind, the appendage enables you to sail impressively close to the wind. The situation this morning certainly played into the hands of Marc Blanc, one of the top French riders using this new machine, who put in a great performance in three races. His supremacy was contested by Bruno Sroka and Charles Deleau (respectively world champions in 2007 and 2008 in the sport), yesterday’s big winners, who repeated their performance today. The young Julien Kerneur, one of the top representatives from the new generation of Breton riders, also performed well by consistently finishing in a good position.

It was a “very tactical” day according to Bruno Sroka, who has managed to retain pole position in the general ranking.*

In the women’s category, the long awaited duel between local girl Fabienne d’Ortoli and Steph Bridge, world champion 2008, didn’t disappoint. “It’s amazingly motivating, explained Fabienne after a packed day, we always finish very close to each other”. After the second day of racing, Fabienne has the advantage over the British kitesurfer in the general ranking of this European Championship ‘made in Douarnenez’.*

*provisional results prior to the jury’s decision

Men

1. Bruno Sroka 8.10
2. Marc Blanc 12.10
3. Charles Deleau 13.40
4. Julien Kerneur 21.00

1. Fabienne d’Ortoli
2. Steph Bridge
3. Caroline Adrien

The beautiful sunshine this afternoon also gave visitors the opportunity to discover Port-Rhu in all her finery. Demonstrations of maritime crafts, a tour of a traditional crayfish boat, an introductory course in sculling; something for everyone as throngs of people gathered in preparation for the “son et lumière” show this evening. Last year’s spectacle was one of the real highlights of the Grand Prix 2008.

The programme will extend through till Sunday.