Deauville Sailing Week 2009 - Day 4
by Kate Jennings 7 Jun 2009 21:41 BST
4-7 June 2009
Deauville Week 2009 © Jean-Marie Liot / DIW
Deauville International Week was certainly born under a lucky star. 4 editions, 4 forecasts with wind, 4 forecasts with sun and 4 sessions of top quality competition.
For the final day of racing, conditions were ideal once again: 2O knots of S/SW’ly to delight competitors. “It’s the first time I’ve raced in Deauville and it’s been excellent, so I’ll be back!” Bruno Staub, tactician aboard the J 80 VOG.
As far as racing was concerned the 4th edition of Deauville International Week had nothing to be ashamed of with its schedule. The results were positive with 11 races on the Sportsboat round, 9 on the IRC round and 8, including one Offshore race spanning 116 miles, for the Farr 30s.
This year has once again seen a high class line-up in the Baie de Seine. From Luc Gelusseau in the Longtze to Daniel Souben in the Farr 30, to Erwan Tarbarly in the Sportsboat as well as Cyrille Legloahec in the IRC, all of them were present during the event, adding a little something special to the atmosphere…
“Deauville International Week enables amateur racers to do battle with professionals, which is fantastic! There were only 14 protests in 4 days right across the various fleets, so we can be satisfied with the high level of the competitors. It’s a very fine event, a beautiful region and some great boats” said Trevor Lewis, international judge during Deauville International Week.
Strength and honour
“You had to stay on the pace and not let up at all. We had 4 intense days of racing with some very varied conditions, right up to the last minute, so you really had to battle for victory. We attach a great deal of value to fact that we’ve won this race as it took a lot of effort!” explained Xavier Le Cœur, skipper of the K 6.50 Matra Sport.
The helmsman from the Upper Normandy region perfectly summed up this long weekend of sparring. The level among the various fleets proved very similar and enabled the committees to organise a whole series of races. In the majority of categories the top five boats were within a few points of each other and there was still everything to play for right up to the last day!
“11 races in shifty wind wasn’t easy but by God was it funny! The fleet was compressed and the battle raged big time. The level is increasing in the series and there is little to separate the boats. After this championship, you can see that it’s the crew who make the difference!“ according to Luc Gelusseau, skipper of the Longtze Lufthanza.
A new element worth repeating!
7 windward leeward courses and one 116 miles Offshore, what better training with just a month until the Tour de France à la Voile? The 17 Farr 30 crews participating at Deauville International Week are unanimous: “We can now be certain of our onboard configuration” admits Daniel Souben, skipper of Courrier Dunkerque. “The format is suited to our programme, it’s a superb idea!” says Cédric Château, helm on Manche Basse-Normandie.
The ‘D-Day’ course proved successful to the various crews battling throughout the night! At 1900 hours yesterday, Nouvelle Calédonie was leading the way but as the wind switched so it radically reshuffled the cards. Some managed to play their game well, while others didn’t fair quite so well… This was the case for Région Ile de France who, originally positioned in second, slipped down to sixth. In contrast the Normans, 10th last night, made the most of their local knowledge of the race zone and ranked 4th!
In the general ranking, Courrier Dunkerque dominated and once again asserted its superiority just a month before the big meet!
Compliments
Just minutes away from the prize-giving, the time for compliments and thanks had come: “… And bravo to the race committee. Given the conditions we encountered, it was very good! The wind shifted every which way and the anemometer was up and down, but we still competed in 11 races that were always well marked out, which was terrific!” said an enthusiastic Philippe Szellos, skipper of the winning J 80 of the 2009 edition.
The final word went to the whole Deauville International Week team who shouted in unison: “Congratulations to the crews and a big thank you for being here!”