Sea, Sail & Surf newsTour de France à la Voile
Nantes-St-Nazaire and Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention make their mark
dimanche 30 juin 2002 –
Nantes St-Nazaire retains their overall leader’s red spinnaker but today victory went to other boats. Professional team Dieppe Seine Maritime, skippered by 470 former world champion Gildas Philippe, won the first race of the day, a windward/leeward. The Swiss of Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, skippered by Etienne David, came home in first place after the10 mile coastal race. Having had a reasonable start they proceeded to work there way up the fleet on the first beat to lead the rest of the boats in procession around the course.
"We’re very happy because we manage to get reasonably good results without taking too many risks, especially at the starts. We had our good boat speed back though we’re not performing to our full potential yet", says Etienne David.
"Nantes-St-Nazaire and us are the two boats that probably sailed the most this year and therefore we probably refine our boat handling quicker. But I wouldn’t burry Région Ile de France or Panther Team GBR yet as it is only the beginning of the regatta. The Brits showed inconsistency before but they can be really good and Jimmy Pahun has a good team for offshore races", adds the Swiss skipper.
In fact, commiserations went to Panther : Team GBR of Rob Greenhalgh who had a shocker. The Brits finished in a very disappointing 34th position in the first race and in 21st in the coastal race. "We basically went on the wrong side of the first shift of each race, then we didn’t get clear air downwind. We had a bad day !", comments Rob Greenhalgh.
Among the other foreign teams, British boat Royal Thames skippered by Owen Modral had a good day finishing in 11th and 10th place. "We’re happy. We’re slowly improving and getting a hang on it. I think there are areas in our sailing that are really good and a few areas in which we make mistakes. We hope to improve these", says Owen Modral. "The main tactic was the tide and staying in the channel", adds the skipper of Royal Thames mentioning that it is Ruairidh Scott who does the tactics.
Force EDC, skippered by Australia’s Simon Sutherland, came in 16th in the first race but managed to finish the coastal race in 8th position ahead of the threatening Cap Université St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, current leader of the student ranking and third overall. A good day for the team Force EDC who climbed up to 6th place overall."We had a good start in the second race. We rounded the top mark in 6th then we had a good run and rounded the bottom mark in 4th, but we had some problem sorting out which way the tide was going on the last beat and lost a few places", explains Simon Sutherland. "Racing is pretty good. We’ll have to work hard to beat Cap Université. They seem to be the student team to beat at the moment", follows the Aussie skipper. "Now we have to get the crew ready for tomorrow’s 94-mile upwind race in 25 knots wind", adds skipper of Force EDC.
There was some drama out on the water today with some strong gusts playing havoc with the fleet. Two boats abandoned the first race after encountering some breakages. In the second race, student boat Groupe Dassault-X-ESCP-EAP skippered by Marc Le Pesqueux, dismasted. The girls of Nantes-St-Nazaire au féminin also pulled out in the second race.
Tomorrow morning, the fleet will leave Dunkerque at 8:00 and sail to Dieppe. It will be interesting to see what happens in this first 94-mile offshore race.
Isabelle Musy
Results after Race 4
Overall
1. Nantes-St-Nazaire / Pierre Loic Berthet 203 points
2. Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention / Etienne David 193 pts
3. Cap Université Saint-Quentin en Yvelines / Jean-Marie Gout 187 pts
4. Marseille / Dimitri Deruelle 181 pts
5. Dieppe-Seine Maritime / Gildas Philippe 179 pts.
6. Force EDC / Simon Sutherland 174 pts
7. Estudines.fr-Port de Commerce La Rochelle / Yann Dube 172 pts
8. Dinard La Pachanga / Eric Basset 166 pts
9. Ville d’Antibes-NEC / Julien Farnarier 161 pts
10. Royal Thames / Owen Modral 159 pts
18. Panther : Team GBR / Rob Greenhalgh 140 pts
Amateur
1. Dinard La Pachanga / Eric Basset 113 pts
2. Royal Thames / Owen Modral 98 pts
3. Codiam ENSP DH / JC Nicouleau – Nicolas Loday 98 pts
Student
1. Cap Université St-Quentin en Yvelines / Jean-Marie Gout 110 pts
2. Force EDC / Simon Sutherland / 106 pts
3. Estudines.fr-Port de commerce La Rochelle 106 pts
Dans la même rubrique
Tour de France à la Voile 2002 : Nantes-St-Nazaire grabs victory in the first two races
Photo : JM.Liot
Tour de France à la Voile : Panther : Team GBR wins the prologue
Tour de France à la Voile : The 40 teams are getting ready to start fro Dunkerque
Giraglia Rolex Cup : The Swan 45 La Forza del Destino wins Giraglia Rolex Cup
Photo : G.Cantini / Sea&See.it
