Wallyño wins Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez class with a day to spare
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 5 Oct 2023 21:19 BST
1-8 October 2023
Benoît de Froidmont, wife Aurélie, tactician Cedric Pouligny and the crew of Wallyño scored their fourth bullet in Maxi C today - 2023 Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez © Gianfranco Forza
While in some classes the victors are now close to being decided going into tomorrow's last race for the 39 maxi yachts at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, more light conditions off the Cote d'Azur produced some new winners today.
In the southerly breeze, the race once again set sail from Pampelonne Bay, but with the race committee, including the International Maxi Association's own Ariane Mainemare, sending the bigger maxi classes north towards Fréjus while the leeward mark for Maxi C and D was further west off Issambres, both groups ultimately finishing in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez.
However decisive is the situation in Maxi C where winning with a day to spare is International Maxi Association President Benoît de Froidmont and his 60ft Wallyño who have sewn-up their result, the only Maxi still racing with an unblemished four bullet scoreline.
Having started three up from the pin, Wallyño headed for the mid-left up the beat to stay in optimum pressure and shift. "Lady First 3 had a tighter lay line with two more tacks than us and we managed to roll them at the top," recounted tactician Cedric Pouligny. "After that we had to deal with the bigger boats we were catching. We made a mistake on the final downwind coming into Issambres because we let Lady First 3 go more inshore and we got an extra header that was not expected. They got inside us and caught us but we were still ahead at the mark."
Ultimately Wallyño beat Lady First 3 under IRC corrected time by 6 minutes 46 seconds with Marco Tursini's Advanced 80 Mindfulness third.
Most hotly contested remains Maxi A where today separate battles were raging between the 100 footers and between the former Maxi 72s. Going into tomorrow's final day three boats are separated by 0.7 points.
Particularly fierce was the contest between the 72ft Cannonball, helmed by her new owner Peter Harrison, and Peter Dubens' North Star. After a start from Pampelonne Bay (following a short delay) in a 6 knot southerly, North Star led for most of the race, but approaching the leeward mark off Fréjus Cannonball was able to engage, forcing North Star to tack just short of the mark, although Peter Dubens' team still managing to gain the inside berth at the mark, rounding with Cannonball just inches outside her.
Cannonball's tactician Vasco Vascotto admitted that he'd made a few mistakes early on the downwind to Fréjus due to "too much rosé [on yesterday's layday]!" But then: "we had the opportunity to recover and to fight a little bit and then it became a little closer. It wasn't a proper match - if it had been that, I promise you there would have been a lot of carbon around the bay! But the relationship between the other 72 footers is really good - so no problem."
Ultimately North Star prevailed, finishing just over a minute ahead of Cannonball, but with the former Maxi 72s only just making the podium today.
Finally scoring a bullet today was Wendy Schmidt's 82ft Deep Blue, bouncing back after a start line collision with a rib on Wednesday had caused enough damage to put them out of that race (for which they received redress). Today they bounced back stronger than ever to take the Maxi A class bullet, elevating them to third overall behind Cannonball and North Star.
Winning on the water today was Chris Flowers' 100ft Galateia, which finished second 1 minutes 10 seconds behind Deep Blue under IRC corrected time, despite having been locked in combat with Karel Komarek's similarly-sized V (ex-Tango) for much of the race. "We were glued together - super close," observed Galateia tactician Murray Jones.
Of their race the America's Cup legend continued: "All the boats were quite early on the start, but we sailed well off the line, which saved us. When we came across y3k had done a nice job, tacking early to get across to the right. We did a strong leebow [tack] on her and then fortunately the wind lifted us about 8 degrees and we laid from where we were, which was a little lucky."
Many gains were to be made from playing the topography-induced shifts, although at one point V found more pressure offshore and when they reconvened with the fleet she had done well. Galateia led around the leeward mark and at the finish off Saint-Tropez (in the best breeze of the day - around 10 knots) was first home, two minutes 20 seconds ahead on the water.
In Maxi B the unbroken string of wins for Terry Hui's 77ft Lyra came to an end with the Chinese-Canadian's team third behind her seven-year-younger sistership, Sven Wackerhagen's Rose and Thomas Biton's 72ft Aragon.
"We didn't make mistakes today," explained Rose's Danish tactician Jesper Radich. "We started well and had a significant lead at the first mark and were the first to gybe on the first corner where there was a massive 23 degrees shift. So we came out on a lift and then we started to get rolled downwind [by the faster boats] and it is always hard to evaluate what is the winning pattern when you are losing! But we stayed cool - then on the last upwind we got the breeze we needed and then could stretch our legs a bit and get back at Aragon and win the race."
Generally of their week Radich said: "We have consistently started strong. This team has a long way to go, so when it becomes really difficult we pay quite a price because we are not an experienced team and we don't have the same super-optimised set-up as Lyra does, so we have to sail close to our optimum to beat them. But today we managed that pretty well."
Finally in Maxi D Jurg Schneider's Swan 65 Saida scored her second bullet of the series. However Matteo Fossati's 64ft Stella Maris still leads overall. Jerome Bataillard's Shipman 63 Sao Bernardo was third today behind Stella Maris.
"It was perfect conditions for Saida," said Schneider. "We had a good start and on the gennaker hoist we did a good job." Being substantially the lowest rated in Maxi D it is easy to know when his 50-year-old ketch is doing well - he simply needs competitors to be astern and two were today. This does mean that tomorrow it will be hard for them to engage and make much impression on the faster Stella Maris. "Our goal is to have a third win tomorrow," concluded Schneider.
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez is organised by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, part of the French Sailing Federation, in collaboration with the city of Saint-Tropez, the International Maxi Association (IMA) and the support of the Yacht Club de France. It is the final event of the IMA's Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge.
Tomorrow's final day of racing for the maxis will set sail at 1200 with a forecast that is similarly light but sailable.