Dart 18 French Nationals at La Rochelle

The French Dart 18 Nationals are always one of the highlights of the annual Dart 18 calendar and this year was no exception. Held in the world class sailing venue of La Rochelle, six UK teams joined Dutch and Belgian teams to challenge the top French Dart sailors. The strong French team included reigning European Champions Emmanuel Dode and Billy Besson, taking a break from his Tornado Olympic campaign.

The first day was dominated by light winds and it was only possible to hold one race. In steady 5 – 7 knot winds, tactics were really difficult. On the first lap, the left hand side of the beat paid, whilst on the second beat the right hand side paid: all the early leaders therefore surrendered their lead, allowing Brits to take all three top positions – Gareth Owen and Will Thompson first, followed by Marco Manganelli and Kim McMullen with Dave and Louise Roberts in third.

The second day by complete contrast was blown off. On the third day, strong winds of 18 – 23 knots combined with large waves, allowed three exciting races to be contested. In the first race Owen/Thompson took line honours, with the French team Dode/Besson second and Roberts/Roberts in third again. The wind strengthened slightly for the next race and line honours were taken by Roberts / Roberts, with the French team Thierry Wibaux / Francois de Vriendt in second and Owen/Thompson taking third slot. In the final race of the day, Owen/Thompson took line honours from Roberts/Roberts and these two Brits had built up a significant points lead going into the final day.

The final day saw very light winds with a gentle gradient fighting a sea breeze resulting in large shifts, holes and gusts! With three races it was mentally strenuous. In the first race of the day, Roberts / Roberts took a large lead after the first lap, only to fall into a hole and drop back to 10th place, with the French sailors Dode/Besson choosing the correct side of the beat to take line honours from the French team Marc Le Goff/ Heloise Heuls, and with the French/British team of Herve le Maux and Jo Jones Pierce in third slot. The next race had the fleet almost stationary for periods of time and Le Goff/Heuls continued their form to take line honours with Manganelli/McMullen in second and Owen/Thompson just beating Roberts/Roberts into third place.

This left Roberts/Roberts needing to beat Owen/Thompson by 5 points in the final race to take the title. The first beat saw an epic tacking battle with Owen/Thompson aiming to stay on top of Roberts/Roberts – who only broke free by tacking under a French boat. Eventually, Roberts/Roberts could only put 4 boats between them and Owen/Thompson - and one of those was OCS, so the title was won by Owen/Thompson by one point – in an exact reversal of the recent UK Nationals. Herve Le Maux (France) and Jo Jo Pierce (UK) finished third. Louise Roberts was awarded the fabulous Nathalie Le Maux trophy as first lady competitor.

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