Tour de France à la Voile 2013 - Deauville in-port race

Sodebo win the only in-port race today in Deauville

After an in-port race and a pro-am sail off Deauville's beachfront, all 12 teams returned to the dock to rest and prepare for tomorrow's offshore leg to Brest.

Thomas Coville and his men are feeling confident after finishing the morning's race ahead of Groupama 34 and Courrier Dunkerque 3; the other teams are looking forward to sailing a 245 mile-long leg in dream conditions.

The fourth offshore leg of the TFV 2013 is also the longest in the history of a race, created in 1978. Routing software are predicting a 25-hour downwind sail that will be scored with a factor of 5.

"It should be a very nice leg thanks to a high pressure system sitting above the British islands," said Nantes St Nazaire E. Leclerc skipper Corentin Douguet. "It would have been very painful if we had to sail the same in a strong wind from the W-SW. But we are going to sail downwind (in the same direction of the wind) and the weather should be very nice. Downwind sailing is always the best." The fleet will first reach Barfleur and sail along the Cotentin coast in 15-20 knots of wind from the NW.

"Current is favourable until Guernsey," said Jérémie Beyou, joining Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite. "It will be a gybing game after La Hague and then the wind will drop off at Brittany's north coast. We are going to be against the current in the Four (western part of Brittany). We will play with the rocks along the coast or in Ouessant and Molène before sailing upwind to the finish line in Brest."

Sailing celebrities joined the race in Deauville to reinforce the existing teams: Beyou with Bretagne, Gildas Mahé with Nantes St Nazaire E. Leclerc, Bertrand Pacé with Normandie, Charles Caudrelier with Groupama 34...

Because this is a key leg for the overall ranking. Groupama 34 will protect their 37-point lead on Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite, and Courrier Dunkerque is anxious to secure their third place. Normandie hope to maintain the amateur lead ahead of the German team Iskareen.

Estimated time of arrival: 11:30am in Brest on Wednesday morning.

Quotes:

Thomas Coville, Sodebo skipper:
"We won in Deauville and it's a nice feeling! We are taking a psychological advantage before the long offshore leg Deauville-Brest tomorrow, which is our own Alpes d'Huez! We are a great team capable of good as well as bad. Above all we are able to bounce back."

Corentin Douguet, Nantes St Nazaire E.Leclerc skipper:
"The Deauville-Brest leg is looking good! It would have been very painful if we had to sail the same in a strong wind from the W-SW. But we are going to sail downwind (in the same direction of the wind) and the weather should be very nice. Downwind sailing is always the best. It's going to be a great race with a lot of variables to play with and a lot of possible outcomes. We'll give it our all. It would be nice to do well on this leg as it's scored with a factor of 5."

Florian Simonnot, TPM-Coych mast man:
"Today went well, we took a 5th place. Team OmanSail overtook us at the last minute but we were 4th for half of the race. We are improving consistently since the Tour started. The team is more and more on the spot and maneuvers are smooth. Our communication has improved as well."

Manu Muller, Bienne Voile tactician:
"We are really looking forward to this long leg! It looks like it will be a downwind ride, which would be great. No turnover onboard apart from our navigator who stayed ashore to prep for the leg. Our wonderful shore team is cooking some nice meals for us to attack tomorrow. Our main objective: to beat Martinique BE Brussels, our main competitor. We'd like to get closer to them overall or even overtake them. We did it today!"

Ranking after 13 races:

1 GROUPAMA 34, CAMMAS Franck 467 pts - Blue Spinnaker
2 BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE, TROUSSEL Nicolas 430 pts
3 COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3, SOUBEN Daniel 422 pts
4 TEAM OMANSAIL, POULIGNY Cédric 418 pts
5 SODEBO, COVILLE Thomas 399,5 pts
6 VILLE DE GENEVE - CARREFOUR ADDICTIONS, METTRAUX Elodie-Jane et GROUX Nicolas 372 pts
7 TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE - COYCH, BERNAZ Jean-Baptiste 362 pts
8 NANTES - SAINT NAZAIRE - E.LECLERC, DOUGUET Corentin 357 pts
9 NORMANDIE, CHOQUENET Baptiste 323 pts
10 ISKAREEN, DITTMERS Christiane et BRUHNS Sönke 320 pts
11 MARTINIQUE - BE.BRUSSELS, WOLTERS Delphine et MOURES Matthieu 292 pts
12 BIENNE - VOILE – SRS, PETER Luzius et KUNZ François 283 pts

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