MOD70 European Tour City Race Series in Cascais - Overall
by Multi One Design 16 Sep 2012 23:30 BST
14-16 September 2012
A tale of three cities - Musandam-Oman Sail win in Cascais
Musandam-Oman Sail, skippered by Sidney Gavignet with his international crew became the third different team to win City Race series in successive stops of the MOD70 European Tour when they triumphed in the sixth race in Cascais, Portugal.
Musandam-Oman Sail won three of the six races sailed over three days, almost all in light breeze, which proved somewhat contrary to Cascais reputation for reliable strong winds. Smarting after losing second place to FONCIA in the final half mile to the finish of the offshore stage from Dun Laoghaire at dawn in very light airs early on Wednesday morning, Gavignet and his crew realised then they had a small deficit in speed to Michel Desjoyeaux's crew. They made changes accordingly and, aligned to steady starting and some strong tactics from Jean Francois Cuzon, have remained very consistent, complementing their three wins with two thirds and a fifth to win ahead of Yann Guichard's Spindrift racing.
Musandam-Oman Sail collect 12 precious points in the chase for the MOD70 European Tour while second place for Spindrift racing ensures they increase their overall lead in the general classification.
Race 5
From a race which was contested in only a very light and patchy SW'ly breeze that never topped more than 6kts and faded to almost nothing in areas, Yann Guichard's crew on Spindrift racing took the winning gun for Race 5 of the City Race series. With Musandam-Oman Sail finishing fifth, Spindrift racing temporarily had the overall series lead by a single point. Although it was Sébastien Josse's team on Groupe Edmond de Rothschild who made the best start and lead to the first offset mark, on the upwind leg, they ran out of wind pressure in the middle right of the leg.
Spindrift racing and FONCIA chose to stay closer to the Cascais shore where they found some localised acceleration of the wind and were able to round the top mark in first and second.
With the breeze fading and developing big holes, although the MOD70's moved with impressive efficiency in the light winds, Race Direction chose to halt the race after one round of the triangle course. This time the triangle course was upwind-downwind as opposed to the downwind-upwind format of yesterday and Friday.
Race 6
It was in Race 6, the final inshore contest of Cascais, that cemented the overall Cascais City Race series for Musandam-Oman Sail, winning by two points ahead of Spindrift racing.
Three boats were called over the start line early, FONCIA, Race for Water and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild.
Musandam-Oman Sail emerged from with the lead and were able to stay ahead around the two lap course.
Race for Water restarted smartly and made a smart good recovery at the top end of the first windward leg. In the end they were able to push Musandam-Oman Sail hard at the finish line.
Cascais City Races Results:
1 - Musandam-Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet): 10+10+12+12+8+12 = 64 points
2 - Spindrift racing (Yann Guichard): 11+11+9+10+12+9 = 62 points
3 - Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse): 12+9+10+9+9+10 = 59 points
4 - Race for Water (Stève Ravussin): 9+12+8+8+10+11 = 58 points
5 - FONCIA (Michel Desjoyeaux): 8+8+11+11+11+8 = 57 points
MOD70 European Tour Standings: (after two offshore stages and three City Race series)
1 - Spindrift racing (Yann Guichard) 11+47+12+52+11 = 133 points
2 - FONCIA (Michel Desjoyeaux) 12+53+10+46+8 = 129 points
3 - Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse) 10+44+11+41+10 = 116 points
4 - Musandam-Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet) 9+34+8+42+12 = 105 points
5 - Race for Water (Stève Ravussin) 8+38+9+35+9 = 99 points
Full results can be found here.
Sidney Gavignet, FRA skipper Musandam-Oman Sail (OMA): "We are happy, we won three races from six which is pretty good. It is great, just great. What is good is that we just work on making progress and we did not need to make big progress, but to just keeping making progress step by step all the time wherever you start from and we started pretty low. We lost crew on the first race in Kiel. We broke the daggerboard in Dublin, so we were starting from quite low, and had some problems. But we kept working. We kept the positive spirit and little by little we get more cards to play the game with. What we learned here, if we had those two cards on the way in, we would have been second from Dublin. One is easy we could not pass the battens across in the light winds and the other is speed with the gennaker. So for sure we are making progress and growing in confidence and that affects the others who lose in confidence, we need to keep progressing.
We have a contract with ourselves, we said our goal was to finish mid fleet, so a podium, and it is start. The points for winning here are not much compared to winning offshore, but it's a step in the right direction. So we are kind of into our stride. We are better organised.
Jean Francois Cuzon is the tactician and does it all. I am just the helmsman. We are still not at 100% confidence and sometimes we are just looking at the others to see how to go fast. I think one thing we have done well is if you want the tactician-strategist to do the job well you have to leave them the space to do it well. For the Omani's I am sometimes a bit hard on them, over their shoulders, and that is not good because I am not doing my job so well. And I am putting pressure on them, So on the first day we regrouped a little, and each one is doing their job well. Now I let everyone do their job."
Musandam-Oman Sail wins European Tour Cascais City Race Series (from Oman Sail)
Sidney Gavignet's multinational crew of Omanis, French and British won the MOD70 European Tour Cascais City Race series today in style, just 2 points ahead of Spindrift Racing who continue to lead the European Tour overall.
Just a few days ago Musandam-Oman Sail edged on to the podium after finishing 3rd in offshore leg 2 from Dublin, Ireland to Cascais, Portugal, so this – their first win – is a welcome step up for the relatively inexperienced team.
"It's just so good. You know I would like to party with the team but we cannot because tomorrow we go again. That's the rhythm and the pace of this European Tour. But it's great. We won three races of the six. It's a great win. We are very glad," said Gavignet.
"It is hard to pinpoint one improvement. I mean we are improving from the beginning. We started far behind but we improve. From the beginning we had some trouble. We lost one of our crew to injury, another was sick and we lost our daggerboard in Dublin. But we kept going with a positive spirit. We are just trying to make some progress little by little and that's it you know. Nothing special. We are just trying to work well in a good atmosphere to get the best out of everyone.
"The Omani sailors still need to progress a lot, just like all of us. I am hard with them and hard on myself and it's a balance between pushing them too much and keeping them very positive. I need to show them what the problems are so they can learn so it is a constant discussion, sometimes pushing, sometimes being softer, but always trying to help them improve.
"It is a great adventure. It is not easy every day but it is a great adventure to sail on the Omani boat, to sail with Omani crew and with an international team," said Gavignet.
Oman's Moshin Al Busaidi was delighted with the result today as he watched his crew mates Fahad and Khamis get thrown into the water in celebration.
"We had been leading the group here in Cascais and we were torn about racing today and the possibility of losing our position! But I think the team and the skipper have worked very hard to stay in first place.
"Coming third in Leg 2 gave us a boost and made us feel more positive and optimistic. We did a good job and I hope tomorrow, in the 3rd leg, that we will do better again," said Al Busaidi.
Musandam-Oman Sail was top of the leaderboard in Cascais from Friday through Saturday but a fifth place in Sunday's first race of the day saw them slipping by just one point to Spindrift racing. However the win in the sixth and final race put them back up to the top spot with a two point lead over Spindrift racing.
It was a nail-biting finale to the Cascais City races as three boats, FONCIA, Race for Water and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, were called over the start line early. Musandam-Oman Sail managed to emerge from the melee with the lead and stay ahead around the two lap course. But not without pressure from Race for Water who after making a good recovery at the top end of the first windward leg were breathing down the neck of Musandam-Oman Sail until the finish.
Thick fog and very light five knot winds delayed the start of racing on Sunday. The first race was shortened as the sea mist started to roll in again. Racing was postponed for a further thirty minutes for conditions to improve and for the tide to turn before Sunday's second race, the sixth and final race of the series finally got away in building 8-10 knot breeze.
Monday sees the start of the MOD70 European Tour Leg 3 which will take the fleet around Portugal on a course from Cascais to Porto back to Cascais to Sines and back to Cascais for the finish on Tuesday afternoon. Weather depending the Sines leg may be dropped.
Spindrift racing crew come out of Cascaïs tough City Races in second place (from Spindrift racing)
Guichard's men have once again proven how well they can handle the pressure of an increasingly tight MOD70 fleet. With Musandam Oman sail winning the overall Portuguese regattas, and Race for Water showing off some agressive moves, the European Tour gets tougher for the overall leader Spindrift racing team. And yet, in light breeze, Guichard and crew have managed to stay on top, winning one out of six races, and staying with amazing consistency on top of the charts. "Every crew is improving race after race" says Guichard. "Foncia just did not get that little touch of luck that makes a world of a difference. But they're here and we're counting them in for the final battle."
Cascaïs has turned out a nerve wrecking stoppover. "In very light air, one needs to concentrate even more as the slightest mistake sends you straight down in the back of the fleet..."
Helmsman ansd skipper, Yann Guichard brings fresh energy into his team after two very demanding weeks. Kevin Escoffier and offshore multihull racing expert Jean-Baptiste Levaillant step in, along side Figaro routiniers Eliès and Bidégorry.
The third week into the European Tour starts with an utmost important short leg, called "Around Portugal Race". A short (213 miles) yet demanding light breeze regatta from Cascaïs all the way up north to the small Berlenghas Islands, back to Cascaïs and a mark off Sines, then the finish line in Cascaïs. "This short race accounts for as many points as a regular leg" says Guichard; "We shall therefore make sure to preserve the nice edge we have over our closest opponents in the overall provisional rankings." Finish line expected to be reached some time tomorrow Tuesday afternoon.