2019 SB20 Grand Slam in Hyeres, France - Day 2
by Jane Austin, SB20 Australia Media 6 Oct 2019 06:21 BST
19-25 October 2019
The international SB20 fleet in Hobart during the 2018 World Championship © Jane Austin
Brutal sailing was the flavour of the second day of the 2019 SB20 French Grand Slam series in Hyères, France. Apart from current leader Robin Follin (Give Me Five FFV Youth), the entire fleet found the conditions a testing and challenging affair with massive shifts (8 - 25 knots) and huge pressure differences a feature of racing. The Australian contingent remains in the top ten which is a good sign going into the last day of racing on Sunday.
Race Three of the Grand Slam series was sailed in 18 knots of breeze with these conditions suiting the Australian team, The Imp (Andrew Smith). Smith, Lewis Noye and local sailor Mikael Mergui have gelled remarkably well and are sailing their new charter boat with finesse which is a testament to the skill of the team. The Imp notched up their first win of the series taking Race Three from reigning French and UK National Champion John Pollard (Xcellent-GBR) and Vasco Serpa's Portuguese team Sail Cascais/Animal. In his worst race of the series, Robin Follin (Give Me Five FFV Youth) finished in fifth place.
Follin, Serpa and the Russian team of Vadim Pushev, Ivan Gromov and Alex Kolobanov (Victoria Sailing Team) finished Race Four in first, second and third respectively.
Porco Rosso (Elliott Noye) won the pin to start Race Five but a big shift downhill had a massive impact on the fleet and saw Follin take another first place with Sail Cascais/Animal in second, Xcellent in third and Absolut-RUS (Igor Ginzburg) in fourth place. Aeolus (Cooper) from Australia finished in sixth place, Smith (The Imp) in ninth while Porco Rosso slipped back to finish in 14th place.
Race Six of the series was delayed as PRO Jean Diaz reset the course again due to the big shifts in breeze but this race proved to be Porco Rosso's strongest performance finishing in third behind Follin and his French compatriot Gabriel Skoczek (Team FFVoile).
The French Grand Slam is a serious lead-up to the World Championship which starts on 19 October in Hyères, and there is a lot to learn from the event for the Australians. Jock Calvert, (Aeolus) shared his thoughts on the second day of racing. "We probably focussed on the wrong things today. I think we looked inwards a bit too much and didn't have our heads out of the boat enough - with the conditions being as crazy as they were, seeing the winning shifts and then committing to them was key. The takeaway is for sure to try and sail more to the conditions, and to try and prioritise the right things in our race process," said Calvert.
Calvert is clearly impressed with Follin and the Give Me Five FFV Youth team which, after a change in mast prior the regatta, is blitzing the fleet. "Follin is a man on a mission this regatta, the man can do no wrong! I imagine a little bit of local knowledge doesn't hurt, but at the same time he was so consistent, and full credit to him. I think he kept it simple today - took full advantage of the start line bias and got on the lifted tack as fast as he could. From there he just stayed in phase, and it worked beautifully for him," said Calvert.
Porco Rosso skipper Elliott Noye found the day extremely challenging but has found a few areas to work on. "The conditions were very shifty and the pressure differences on the course were huge. We started well in all races but struggled with our tactics, especially downwind, but we were happy to have three races in single figures. Our boat speed feels good, but we need to improve our decision making on the course. We also feel a little rusty after not sailing for three months, but with the positions on the leader board very close, we are looking forward to having a crack on Sunday," said Noye.
Results after Day 2: (top ten, 6 races, 1 discard)
1. Give me Five FFV Youth (FRA) (1,1,1,1,1) - 5pts
2. Team FFVoile (FRA) (3,3,7,5,2) - 20pts
3. Xcellent (GBR) (5,6,2,3,4) - 20pts
4. Victoria Sailing Team (RUS) (8,4,4,3,5) - 24pts
5. Absolut (RUS) (4,5,8,6,4) - 27pts
6. Sail Cascais/Animal (POR) (12,12,3,2,2) - 31pts
7. Aeolus (AUS) (2,2,12,13,6) - 35pts
8. The Imp (AUS) (6,9,1,12,9) - 37pts
9. Porco Rosso (AUS) (10,7,9,9,3) - 38pts
10. Miscericorde (RUS) (14,13,7,5,6) - 45pts
Racing gets under way at 1000 on Sunday with three races scheduled and a discard after 8 races.
Full results available here.