Tour de France à la Voile Day 8
by Agence Effets Mer 9 Jul 2012 00:00 BST
29 June - 26 July 2012
The start gun goes and most of the fleet head to the coast. 17 to 20 knots of wind blow under the cliffs. The playground is 200 meters wide – there is less current there – and a tacking battle is on.
TPM Coych is leading after having some problems with fishing pots. The Southern guys sail comfortably with their main sail and jib up. “Everything is fine onboard, we’re happy to be back in the lead. We took a rather average start and then we fought with a fishing pot. We’re now back in front and it feels good. When passing St Valéry en Caux, our shore crew encouraged us from the pier – that was really nice. We ate, it’s a bit wet but not that bad at all,” tells Fabien Henry on the radio, at 3pm.
Christophe Gaumont, race director, laughs – “they started off as if they were going to sail a 10 minutes match race leg! Yet this offshore leg is 190 miles long. The tide change could open the game, the boats will sail offshore and won’t manoeuvre that much any more.” At 5pm, the current will change direction with the tide and the competitors won’t have to fight it anymore – they will be able to sail with it.
The leaders are controlling and following each other. Tack for tack, Courrier Dunkerque 3, Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, Nantes St Nazaire E. Leclerc, Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite and BAE follow Henry’s men. On the radio, Daniel Souben says his team is in total control, but his voice is covered by the wind: he doesn’t want to leave the rail and answers the call with the portable VHF, legs above the water, body pushed against his crew. Onboard Tu Delft, Pim Nieuwenhuis sounds upbeat and happy – all the sailors seem glad to be offshore.
Bienne Voile SRS is sailing with their genoa only because of a main sail problem. Everything is fine onboard and the team is still trying to race to St Cast.
Fécamp, Barfleur, Raz Blanchard, Baie de Seine... The landscape is splendid, the tactical possibilities too. Even though the navigators prepared the leg well, the Channel can always take someone by surprise and the sailors got to be careful. The first boats could reach St Cast le Guildo (Côtes d’Armor) tomorrow around 4pm.
Provisional general ranking after 12 races:
1 - COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3 (FRA 08) - Daniel Souben / 259 points - (BLUE KITE)
2 - BRETAGNE - CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE (FRA 18) - Nicolas Troussel / 249 pts
3 - TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE –COYCH (FRA 07) - Fabien Henry / Tugdual Becquemie / 247 pts
4 - BAE SYSTEMS (OMA 4) - Cédric Pouligny / 238 pts
5 - VILLE DE GENEVE – CARREFOUR PREVENTION (SUI 19) - Jérôme Clerc / Elodie Mettraux / 238 pts
6 - NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE - E.LECLERC (FRA 6) - Corentin Douguet / 228 pts
7 - ILE DE FRANCE (FRA 1) - Vincent Aillaud / 225 pts
8 - BRED / La NORMANDIE (FRA 15), skippé par Arthur Herreman / Baptiste Choquenet / 200 pts
9 - CÔTES D'ARMOR BRETAGNE (FRA 14) - Josselin Le Moine / 198 pts
10 - REGION DE BRUXELLES - CAPITALE / BRUSSELS HOOFDSTEDELIJK GEWEST (BEL 2) - Bertrand Pacé / 196 pts
11 - TU DELFT (NED 1) - Pieter Van Notten / 183 pts
12 - ISKAREEN (GER 11) - Christiane Dittmers / Sönke Bruhns / 168 pts
13 - MARTINIQUE - MEDIABAT (FRA 2) - Mathieu Mourès / 167 pts
14 - FASCINATING SEAS INTERNATIONAL (RUS 023) - Léonid Klepikov / 156 pts
15 - BIENNE VOILE - SRS (SUI 22) - Lorenz Mueller / François Kunz / 109 pts
Provisional amateur ranking after 12 races:
1 - Ville de Genève - Carrefour Prévention, Elodie Jane Mettraux / Jérôme Clerc, 237 pts (PINK KITE)
2 - BRED / La Normandie, Arthur Herreman / Baptiste Choquenet, 200 pts
3 - Côtes d'Armor Bretagne, Josselin Le Moine, 197 pts
Provisional technical ranking after 10 races:
1 - COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3 (FRA 08) - Daniel Souben / 227 pts
2 - Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel, 217 pts (RED KITE)
3 - BAE SYSTEMS (OMA 4) - Cédric Pouligny / 207 pts
Provisional offshore ranking after 2 races:
1 - Toulon Provence Méditerranée - COYCH, Fabien Henry, 71 pts (GREEN KITE)
2 - BRETAGNE - CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE (FRA 18) - Nicolas Troussel / 70 pts
3 - ILE DE FRANCE (FRA 1) - Vincent Aillaud / 176 pts, 70 pts