Finistère Sail Tour: A speedy first leg

Finistère Sail Tour Leg 1 © Pascal Alemany

Finistère Sail Tour Leg 1 © Pascal Alemany

Bunched finishes - entire fleet in port in under two hours

The 30th Finistère Sail Tour opened with a fantastic first leg, a fact demonstrated by the beaming smiles of the competitors. It should be said that they all crossed the finish line in a record time, thus avoiding the pitfalls of having to punch tide.

With the rain in Roscoff immediately dissipating as the starting gun fired, the competitors were able to focus on the first leg in the best possible conditions. Despite a fairly shifty wind, the fleet benefited from a building breeze in the afternoon, which enabled them to complete the circuit of the first leg at a cracking pace.

Fine-tuning and strategy

Go and play amongst the rocks or head further offshore...? Such was the question on everyone's lips today. Aboard "Karibario Kunkel Palette", the seasoned crew went for the second option and were pretty happy with their decision: " we got off to a good start and quickly moved up into the lead of the Finistère Department category. After that we ended up in 3 rd position behind two competitors that we didn't see coming up on us... Fortunately, we were able to make the most of a building breeze after rounding the Toul Coz mark and managed to get back in front again and open up a bit of a lead. We're awaiting the results in corrected time, but we have high hopes!"

Not everyone was quite so lucky though. The four lads making up the crew of "Morbrazh" have been sailing together for five years, but for their first ever Tourduf, they're competing on a brand new craft. " It was time for us to adapt to the Figaro and we trialled lots of different trims but haven't got very good results so far today... However, we're primed for the rest of the week now! Tomorrow we'll be starting from scratch".

Bunched finishes

The Finistère Sail Tour fleet didn't dawdle today and "Charrette III" (Crédit Agricole du Finistère ranking) was first across the finish line at 14:55pm, with a continuous stream of finishers piling in behind them through until 16:36pm. " We were surprised to see how quickly the boats completed the course to L'Aber Wrac'h, explains Jean Coadou, President of the Race Committee. Usually, the arrivals are spread between 17:00 and 21:00pm, later even".

L'Aber Ildut bound

Tomorrow, the competitors will leave the pontoons at 9:00am to take the start of the second leg bound for Lanildut. Prior to that though a great evening awaits them in the port of L'Aber Wrac'h with the crew supper and the eagerly anticipated "P'tits Yeux" concert.

Leg 1 Results:

Groupe Xavier Bourhis l'Assureur plaisance
1: "Raki - Leon Grosse", Sylvain Marange (Armagnac Ancien / Loguivy Canot Club Sect Voile) 1pt
2: "Peugeot Crozon S2p", Claude Tanniou (Armagnac Mk2 / Sant-Hernot Yacht Club) 2pts
3: "Atlantic Batiment", Marc Miossec (Gib Sea 80 / France) 3pts

Groupe CCI du Finistère
1: "Super U Daoulas Acr Cuisines", Thomas Simon (Half-Tonner / France) 1pt
2: "Let's Go III", Daniel Abgrall (First 31.7 / France) 2pts
3: "Anegada", Philippe Girardin (Chance 37 / France) 3pts

Groupe Département du Finistère
1: "Finistere - le Departement", Yannick Roussel (Sun Shine 36 Q / Winches Club) 1pt
2: "Karibario Kunkel Palettes", Jan Legallet (Sun Odyssey 40 Gte / Y C de Granville) 2pts
3: "Team Atroces", Dimitri Caudrelier Benac (Sun Odyssey 43 Gte / Club de la Valle des Fous) 3pts

Groupe Crédit Agricole du Finistère
1: "Charrette III", Frederic Bourderau (Sun Odyssey 40 Gte / Ste des Regates Rochelaises) 1pt
2: "Bidourik 2", Genevieve le Vaillant (Jpk 1010 / France) 2pts
3: "Macaya", Morgann Pinson (Ilc 30 / Centre Nautique de St Cast) 3pts

Groupe Super U
1: "Vaimiti", Frederic Level (A35 / Cercle de Voile de Seine Port) 1pt
2: "Iritis", Herve Benic (First 40 / S N Baie de St Malo) 2pts
3: "Glaz", Frederic Beauvillain (Jpk 110 / C N de L Arree) 3pts

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