Tour de France à la Voile 2013 - The Dry Sail
by ASO Sailing News 18 Jul 2013 07:34 BST
11 July 2013
The Dry Sail
First transition day between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea
With the Atlantic segment complete all 12 teams are hitting the road to drive boats and crewmembers to the next stopover in Rosas, Spain.
Rigs have been taken down and boats have been hauled out of the water and placed on their tows. Once packed, these 10.34m-long and 2.98m-wide monohulls are trucked to Rosas.
The drive is around 1000km long. It is a tiring experience for the sailors and the shore crews after three weeks of Tour, hence the professional truck drivers some of the teams are employing.
Racing will resume on Saturday July 20 in the Spanish port. Have a safe trip!
Quotes:
Jean-François Bret, in charge of craning operations at the St Gilles marina:
"I'm used to sailing boats. It's a three-step operation. First we take the mast down. Then the sailors work on the mast while I'm hauling the boat out of the water. Finally I put the mast back on the hull."
Donatien Carme, Nantes St Nazaire E.Leclerc shore crew:
"We are doing this kind of thing several times a year. It's a three-hour job from the rig to the tow. We are leaving with the boat in the afternoon to drive a first part and we will leave again after a good night of sleep. Everybody is tired after the Atlantic segment!"
Thierry Brosshart, Bienne Voile crewmember:
"A boat is not designed for being towed so we need to make sure it's well fixed. We need to drive carefully because the boat and the cook's truck are heavy. We will pay special attention to the roundabouts and crossing points... It's all about sailing ashore with a boat!"
Overall Rankings: (after 22 races)
1 GROUPAMA 34, CAMMAS Franck 868 pts - Blue spinnaker
2 BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE, TROUSSEL Nicolas 813 pts
3 COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3, SOUBEN Daniel 805 pts
4 SODEBO, COVILLE Thomas 786,7 pts
5 TEAM OMANSAIL, POULIGNY Cédric 769 pts
6 TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE - COYCH, BERNAZ Jean-Baptiste 691 pts
7 VILLE DE GENEVE - CARREFOUR ADDICTIONS, METTRAUX Elodie-Jane et GROUX Nicolas 681 pts
8 NANTES - SAINT NAZAIRE - E.LECLERC, DOUGUET Corentin 664 pts
9 NORMANDIE, CHOQUENET Baptiste 626 pts
10 MARTINIQUE - BE.BRUSSELS, WOLTERS Delphine et MOURES Matthieu 596 pts
11 ISKAREEN, DITTMERS Christiane et BRUHNS Sönke 584 pts
12 BIENNE - VOILE – SRS, PETER Luzius et KUNZ François 539 pts
www.tourvoile.fr