Sea, Sail & Surf newsTour de France à la Voile
This time, they’re off ! Straight to Cherbourg
mercredi 3 juillet 2002 –
The second start at 17:15, under flag Z, was a good start and no boat had a premature start. Marc Thiercelin onboard Kenzo in a still strong westerly breeze of 25 to 30 knots and in humid conditions as it was pouring with rain.
It was who got the best start. This first offshore race is going to be a long and tough one : 187-mile race in upwind conditions. It is also a critical one as it is a coefficient 3,5 leg.
After a long wait on shore, most of the crews were relieved to find out, during the skippers briefing at noon, that the weather conditions had improved and that the race committee had decided to start a race to Cherbourg at 17:00.
Though it was a short notice as they only had a couple of hours to get ready, their motivation was high. "We’re really excited. A 3,5 coefficient is nearly the equivalent of 4 inshore races. So we’re ready to get back in a better position as we’ve been really disappointed with our results so far", said Duncan MacDonald of Panther Team GBR.
"This new course is not much different to the one to Dieppe, it is just a bit longer. Some bit will be very tactical", added Rob Greenhalgh, the skipper of Panther Team GBR.
"The first part to Cape Gris-Nez will be very important and then again from Boulogne to Antifer, there will be enough room for the race to be tactical with the wind direction", explained British Sam Stephens, navigator onboard student boat Force EDC.
A lot of the professional teams have offshore experienced sailors on board. Région Ile de France’s Jimmy Pahun have several specialists of the single handed race" Solitaire du Figaro Solitaire du Figaro #LaSolitaire " such as Pascal Bidégorry, who won in it in 2000 as well as Erwan Tabarly and Nicolas Troussel.
Vendée Globe sailor Marc Thiercelin, skipper of Kenzo, has asked Eric Drouglazet, winner of the Solitaire du Figaro Solitaire du Figaro #LaSolitaire 2001, to do the navigation. Bernard Mallaret, skipper of Cassis-Mauguio Carnon, welcomed onboard Aussie Nick Moloney who hasn’t stopped sailing since he got back from the Jules Verne. "I’m very excited as it’s my first time on the Tour de France à la Voile and first time in a Mumm 30. It’s quite interesting, as I don’t know anybody onboard. But it looks like it’s a great team. These guys have a lot of experience", said Nick Moloney.
"The race itself is the greatest one-design race that exists. There is more and more interest in Australia. Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup teams are looking at this event as a good way for team building and testing logistics. Every body throughout the world want to be part of it", added the Australian sailor.
The next few days will tough for the competitors of this 25th Tour de France à la Voile. The boats are expected to arrive in Cherbourg early Friday morning and will leave again Friday night at 20:30 to go to Paimpol.
Isabelle Musy
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Photo : JM.Liot
