Flying Fifteens at the 25th Grand Prix de l'École Navale
by Michel Pélegrin d'Almeïda 28 May 05:13 BST
13-17 May 2026
25th Grand Prix de l'École Navale © Manon Le Guen / GPEN
The Grand Prix de l'Ecole Navale takes place every year on Ascension Day and comprises three days of regattas for around ten one-design classes, as well as an Osiris race for light cruisers and of particular relevance to the Flying Fifteen class - the French Interseries Championship for Sport Keelboats. In total, over 500 sailors, spread across five venues: Lanvéoc-Poulmic, Brest, Roscanvel, Camaret and Morgat.
For the second year running, the light keelboats were therefore competing here in their France INQ Championship. Fifteen boats on the start line: five Tempests, six Ailes, four Flying Fifteens.
Another change this year was that we were based at the Naval Academy, with a course in the Poulmic cove. The wind god Aeolus has been active all weekend, even a bit overpowering on Thursday for our first tacks. A fine display of crane work by the French Navy, a fleet of zodiacs to drop us off at the pontoon, and a ballet of tractors to bring and take away our trailers, each carefully numbered and stored in its own spot.
Day One: Strong winds and a few breakdowns
The forecast (21-26 knots with gusts exceeding 30 knots in squalls) proved accurate, causing a few breakdowns and retirements. In the only race held, Emmanuel Desfond and Régis Viateur's Tempest dominated the fleet, whilst Michel Pélegrin and Erwan Gouriou managed to steer their Flying Fifteen to second place, just ahead of another Tempest, that of Patrice and Agnès Rouanet, the defending champions.
But the breeze continued to pick up; the race committee recorded a wind speed of 37 knots in a gust and decided to send everyone (wet and a bit freezing) back ashore. On the way back, One Under's gooseneck gave way in a gust, forcing Jean-François Poirier and François Chevet to come up with a creative fix which, against all odds, would hold up over the following days. Hot crêpes and local beers served under the marquee by the 'fistots' (first-years) provided us with some well-deserved comfort.
Day Two: Manageable breeze and tactical choices
A unique feature of the GPEN is that crews racing at the same venue meet up in the evening and morning for breakfast and dinner together, which fosters a spirit of camaraderie and adds to the atmosphere of the event.
Friday's tactical dilemma: head right, anticipating a more or less predictable shift, or bear away towards the left (not too far, otherwise the shore effect becomes negative) to benefit from the counter-current and the (small) shore bending.
At the end of the day, the 'lefties' were right 8 times out of 9 (three 2-lap races, one 3-lap race). "It's at the end of the fair that you count the dungs," remarked the now-famous crew member of One Under (his close-up photo features on the Grand Prix posters), and indeed by evening the standings were more or less settled, with the Flying Fifteen order as follows: Arnaud Bachelier and Pierre-Yves Piéto on Hay Fever, followed by One Under, JamaisDeuxSansTrois! and Alain Kinard / Jacques Faguet on Thank God It's Friday. Overall: two Tempests, an Aile in between, Hay Fever fourth just off the podium, the other Flying Fifteens bunched up behind.
Day Three: A somewhat capricious medium-force wind, four fiercely contested races
After a bit of a wait, the wind finally picked up from the West, blowing a bit erratically with a succession of rainless squalls. In total, over the two and a half days, the race committee managed to run nine excellent races, adapting quickly to changing conditions (thanks also to the connected autonomous marks). Consolidation of the overall ranking on corrected time. By the end, we were pretty knackered (in every sense of the word), but what a pleasure it was to give it our all in the breeze and to race so closely. There was something for everyone: maxi hiking, spinnaker surfing, upwind tactics, fine tuning, covering, positioning at the starts (ah, that port-tack start by François at the helm of One Under ahead of the whole pack!)...
Huge thanks to the Ecole Navale, FFVoile, the committee, the mark crew, the safety team, the on-water jury (no hard feelings, even though they made the author of these lines do two 360s, one of which was clearly undeserved), to Jeff, the bosun's mate, his impressive knife and his help in threading a new mainsail halyard through the mast... See you all next year!
Les Quillards a Dinard
The weekend immediately preceding the GPEN, the Dinard Yacht Club decided to organise an inter-series competition for sport keelboats. It was the first such event this year, and a great success, with 18 boats on the starting line: 9 Open 5.00s, 1 Tempest and 8 Flying Fifteens.
The Open 5.00's turned out in force, coming from the Paris region, but also locally (Saint-Cast) and pretty much from all over France, and they immediately set the tone. Their cheerful mood was infectious and made up for the presence of just one Tempest (the others promised they'd make up for it next year). In the Flying Fifteen class, Alain Kinard had arrived from Belgium and managed to put together a Belgian-Texan crew. There was a flurry of activity on Friday on the quay: masting, rigging and launching if possible before low tide, heading out to the moorings, returning ashore for the briefing, and so on.
On Saturday, after the final crane operations, a slightly capricious medium-strength wind awaited us on the race course between the Fosse aux Vaults beach and the Fort Harbour island. The race committee managed to start and finish two fine races before the wind dropped. Upwind, you had to watch out for shifts to be positioned on the right side of the course, whilst anticipating the cross-current at the windward mark. There were few gaps at the finish, with boats crossing the line in groups of three, four or five. The Committee had to focus on recording times to the exact second, as required for calculating corrected times.
In the first race, the Flying Fifteens were leading in real time, with a close battle between Michel Pélegrin / Erwan Gouriou's FRA 4140, and FRA 3976 Prothis, skippered by Antoine Cojan and Jean-Yves Renault. In the second race, Jean-Marie Thierry and Pascal Lancelot's Tempest Espoir de Vent finished first in real time, but did not appear to have built up a sufficient lead to overcome its handicap (which was confirmed in the evening's results).
Behind him, a tactical duel continued between the top two Flying Fifteens. The Open 5.00's, bunched together, were marking each other closely, but Kes Kiss Pass, skippered by Christophe and Vincent Lagadou, got the better of Boislatas, skippered by Christophe Ploux and Svitlana Cherkasova, who were battling it out with Le Père Spikas, skippered by Frédéric and Laura Igosse.
Right at the end of the second race, the wind dropped off as expected, preventing a third race from being started. Whilst some were being towed back to Dinard, the wind eventually returned, alas, a little too late to make it easier to return to port and take the moorings.
At the cocktail reception in the Yacht Club's members' lounge, the conversation centred on the uncertainty surrounding the following day: with the forecast predicting 20-25 knots, would the conditions allow us to race the three scheduled races?
Sunday morning, discussions began at 8.30 am. The race committee and Yacht Club management compared their data; the breeze was already blowing at between 20 and just over 25 knots, with the forecast predicting it would gradually strengthen throughout the morning. Common sense dictated that the day's races should be cancelled; the race officer announced and explained his decision, and the competitors retreated to a café-croissant whilst waiting for the tide to allow the boats to be hoisted. Hoisting was, incidentally, a bit of a challenge in that strong breeze, but there was no shortage of volunteers and all the boats were quickly hoisted to be de-rigged.
In the overall standings, the Flying Fifteens were bunched together, taking the top five places in Saturday's light to moderate conditions. The podium: Michel Pélegrin / Erwan Gouriou, followed by Antoine Cojan / Jean-Yves Renault, and Titouan Pillot / Angèle Mahieux. Jean-Marie Thierry / Pascal Lancelot's Tempest is 6th, whilst the first Open 5.00, skippered by Christophe and Vincent Lagadou, is 8th.
At the prize-giving ceremony, on behalf of all the visitors, the president of AS Open 5.00, Frédéric Igosse, warmly thanked the club, the Committee and the volunteers, and everyone agreed to meet again next year!