2015 Tour de France à la Voile – Race 1, Act 1 overall

by A.S.O./Tour de France à la voile on 4 Jul 2015 2015 Tour de France à la Voile – Jean-Christophe Mourniac, Tim Mourniac and Pierre-Yves Durand win the first race of Act one. They crossed the finish line of the coastal race off Malo-les-Bains (Dunkirk seaside) at 16.39 after more than four hours and a half of racing. Grand Nature Vérandas led the fleet most of the way to take the win one minute in front of Spindrift, with Corinthian team Vannes Agglo – Golfe du Morbihan finishing third just 31 seconds behind!

They were not part of the pre-event favourites, having taken possession of their Diam 24 just two weeks ago. Their skipper Fred Duthil was not even on board today, as he chose to accompany the team sponsors on the water to watch the race. Yet the multihull specialist (F18, Tornado, ORMA60) Jean-Christophe Mourniac and his crew seemed to have no trouble leading the fleet for most of the 45 miles long first coastal race. With his 17 year old son Tim (fifth in the F18 world championships) at the helm and Pierre-Yves Durand (beach catamaran specialist) trimming the front sails, Jean-Christophe took the lead during the long upwind leg towards Belgium in front of the pre-event favourites Groupama, Spindrift and PRB. And they never lost it, crossing the finish line in first to grab the win.

After their win in the Grand Prix Atlantic in April, Spindrift’s second place on the podium was more expected. In a north to north-easterly breeze 10/15 knots and a beautiful sunshine, the fleet had the perfect conditions to perform. And the other nice performance of the day is the one of Vannes Agglo – Golfe du Morbihan. Quentin Delapierre, Matthieu Salomon et Kevin Péponnet are not professional sailors, and they’ve just finished in front of top teams like Groupama, PRB, Sodebo, or Combiwest. But their third place is not really a surprise looking at the early season’s results. Vannes Agglo finished second overall in the Normandy Sailing Week in June and in the Grand Prix Guyader in May. And the youngest crew of the fleet (22 years old average) already has an impressive sailing background, with many titles in dinghy sailing french, European and world championships.

The opening race of the Tour’s new format was a huge success, with crowds of people watching the show from the beach, specially when the fleet was gybing and crossing downwind towards the finish line or reaching 17 knots of boat speed.

Tomorrow the teams will have a break in the competition, with three zero scoring exhibition races.

Quotes of the day

Jean-Christophe Mourniac (Grandeur Nature Vérandas):
« we knew the job because that’s what we do in Formula 18, but on a longer course. It’s an amazing feeling to round the most offshore mark in first. Then we increased our lead downwind. My son at the helm was very good, so was Pierre-Yves at the navigation. And I’ve put the pressure on everyone !! (laughs). It’s a great start, and it’s fantastic for us, for the sponsor, and for our skipper Frédéric Duthil who had been fighting like mad for the last few months to make this happen. We had a very very good start and it was a nice game against Spindrift and Groupama ».

Xavier Revil (Spindrift):
« It was a beautiful day to open the Tour, with the sunshine, nice breeze and beautiful pictures. It was a great fight from the start to the finish and it was hard physically with a long course and a lot of manœuvers. Now we will try to have a rest to keep being on top in the next few days. There no real surprise. PRB is a good team, but they are not the only one. The competition is very tough ».

Matthieu Salomon (Vannes Agglo – Golfe du Morbihan):
« We are pretty happy with our result today. We didn’t perform that well at the start, as we got stuck behind and crossed the line amongst the three last boats. But then we managed to climb up the fleet and towards the end we were faster than Groupama and PRB in pure boat speed. We’ve had ups and downs since the beginning of the season, but it’s great to fight with some of the best sailors. We are aiming for victory in the Corinthian ranking, and a spot in the first five teams overall would be great! »