Tour de France à la Voile Day 1
by Agence Effets Mer 1 Jul 2012 22:24 BST
29 June - 26 July 2012
Courrier Dunkerque wins two of the 3 races
First warning signal of the day at 10.30am from the Tour de France à la Voile 2012 race comity. The 15 M34 sailed three tactical legs in front of Malo Les Bains beach. A triangle track – start line, upwind mark, short dog leg and a downwind mark – twice. 20+ knots of wind are blowing from the South-West. It's very shifty. The wind comes from the land and generates a nasty swell, which makes steering tricky. Strong winds and bad sea state are quite an introduction for the teams!
Shifty wind and flat sea
Start line in front of the entrance of Dunkerque's harbour. 15 knots of SSW – SW wind. Shifts and gusts reaching 20+ knots and a pretty good sea state. The Dutch team TU DELFT is above the line at the start and got penalised, while the Russian team FASCINATING SEAS INTERNATIONAL quickly takes the lead. They will keep it until the end. At the first upwind mark, the Swiss of BIENNE VOILE do a small manoeuvre mistake and catche the boy. They retire and so do ILE DE FRANCE, BRED / LA NORMANDIE and BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE.
The game of the cat and the mouse
Tacticians got it right and head for the coast to make the most of Dunkerque's local effects. Upwind, the fleet sails a tacking battle on a half mile-wide band towards the upwind mark. The level is high and there are many changes of leader. COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3 rises above though. The local team is in great shape and win the first two races of the day.
The last tack of the third leg is a tougher one. BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE finally wins in front of the pier, just ahead of the Dunkerque team. Meanwhile, the Southern crew of TPM COYCH seems to be confortable in the North too... They finish 3rd, 7th and 3rd.
First technical issues
BIENNE VOILE retired during the second leg after they lost one of their mast blocks. An easy fix and Lorenz Mueller's team is back in the game for the third race.
Promising performances
Josselin Le Moine's amateur crew (CÔTES D'ARMOR BRETAGNE) finishes 6th, 3rd and 8th – a very good day for the young guys of the Collectif France Espoir Monotype, now 4th overall! Their pre-race work is paying. They seem at ease on the tactical legs – don't be surprised if they perform like this again.
The Tour de France à la Voile 2012 is just starting and the competition is already tough. COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3, BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE and TPM COYCH – the three favourites – keep up with their reputation: they are leading the overall ranking tonight. D+1 only, there are three racing weeks left, the fight should be hard and the show should be great!
The fleet will leave tomorrow at 10.30am for an inshore leg (from 37 to 53 miles) along the Flanders dunes. The exact length will be communicated tomorrow during the skippers briefing at 8.30am (coefficient 1 if less that 50 miles; coefficient 2 if more than 50 miles).
Dock talk
Nicolas Troussel – BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE
"A good day. We sailed in strong conditions and did a couple of twirls! There is always a bit of fear regarding the equipment in this weather, but we like the breeze. We will repair the spinnaker tonight and let's go! The good boats are in front and it will be interesting."
Daniel Souben – COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3
"We wanted to start off well – it's rather a good day! A small technical mistake when rounding the second downwind mark (leg 3) is costing us a lot. Because the last upwind tack was rather complicated and because our rivals are strong, we didn't manage to get back into the lead."
Leonid Klepikov – FASCINATING SEAS INTERNATIONAL
"I'm rather happy. We had our lot of technical problems but this new team is really great. They fought like wolves! There is still a lot to do to get to know the boat and coach the crew but I'm feeling positive tonight."
Lorenz Mueller – BIENNE VOILE – SRS
"We still have some work to do to get to know this new boat: we had couple of problems upwind, we lacked information but we knew that before to come. There is a learning phase. We are not gloomy – all the contrary!"
Results after 3 Races: (provisional)
1- COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3 (FRA 08) - Daniel Souben / 74 pts
2- BRETAGNE - CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE (FRA 18) - Nicolas Troussel / 68 pts
3- TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE –COYCH (FRA 07) - Fabien Henry / Tugdual Becquemie / 65 pts
4- ILE DE FRANCE (FRA 1) - Vincent Aillaud / 61 pts
5- CÔTES D'ARMOR BRETAGNE (FRA 14) - Josselin Le Moine / 61 pts
6- BAE SYSTEMS (OMA 4) - Cédric Pouligny / 61 pts
7- NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE - E.LECLERC (FRA 6) - Corentin Douguet / 60 pts
8- VILLE DE GENEVE – CARREFOUR PREVENTION (SUI 19) - Jérôme Clerc / Elodie Mettraux / 56 pts
9- BRED / La NORMANDIE (FRA 15), skippé par Arthur Herreman / Baptiste Choquenet / 53 pts
10- TU DELFT (NED 1) - Pieter Van Notten / 51 pts
11- ISKAREEN (GER 11) - Christiane Dittmers / Sönke Bruhns / 46 pts
12- REGION DE BRUXELLES - CAPITALE / BRUSSELS HOOFDSTEDELIJK GEWEST (BEL 2) - Bertrand Pacé / 45 pts
13- FASCINATING SEAS INTERNATIONAL (RUS 023) - Léonid Klepikov / 38 pts
14- MARTINIQUE - MEDIABAT (FRA 2) - Mathieu Mourès / 38 pts
15- BIENNE VOILE - SRS (SUI 22) - Lorenz Mueller / François Kunz / 31 pts
2nd July Schedule:
08h30: Skippers' Briefing
09h00: Leave the docks
10h30: Inshore Leg Racing
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