Tour de France à la Voile 2014 - Oman Sail is back in the top three

by A.S.O./Tour de France à la voile on 14 Jul 2014 Tour de France à la Voile 2014

In brief :

Courrier Dunkerque maintains his lead over Groupama 34
Team Oman Sail is back in the third position on the leaderboard

Great day for Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions.

Tomorrow the boats have two races on their agenda. One inshore race in the morning and a coastal race in the afternoon.

Going to the half way mark of Tour de France à la Voile 37th edition, the game is getting tighter amongst the race favorites. Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Groupama 34 are still in the lead but they now have to keep on eye behind their back as Team Oman Sail is attacking!

While the boats were racing on the water, the Race Village set in the new marina in Roscoff saw the crowds of visitors. The weather conditions were perfect with 10-15 knots of north-westerly wind and sunshine, but the race course was still challenging, with a strong tide to deal with, and the seaweeds and lobster traps to watch for.

The two leaders Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Groupama 34 took the best starts and were faster than the other boats. But two teams are going up the learning curve and are starting to threaten the race favourites. Both had excellent results today, with a third and a second for the Omani team, and a second and a fourth for the Swiss team.

For Bretagne – Crédit Mutuel Elite, it was a tough day, with two sixth places. Nicolas Troussel and his team made some tactical mistakes and are dropping in fourth place overall.

Tomorrow the fleet will leave the pontoons at 10.30am for one inshore race. And at 1.30pm they will take the start of a coastal race

Summary of the first race :

Around 13 knots of North-westerly breeze. Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Groupama 34 took a good start on the pin end. Team Oman Sail and Genève – Carrefour Addictions chose the right side of the course to find a good wind shift and pass in front of Groupama at the windward mark. Courrier Dunkerque was still in the lead. In the second turn, Oman Sail arrived on starboard tack at the windward mark and passed the Swiss team. Courrier Dunkerque crossed the finish line in first followed by Ville de Genève and Team Oman Sail. Groupama was fourth.

Summary of the second race :

There was 10-13 knots of wind on the race course. Groupama 34 and Courrier Dunkerque 3 took the lead of the fleet right from the beginning, and in the first two turns, it was like match racing. But in the meantime, Oman Sail caught up the leaders and started to attack Courrier Dunkerque. The finish was very tight between the three boats. The line was set near the marina and the boats had to do a few tacks upwind to go and cross it. The wind was shifty and the tide was getting stronger which spiced the game up. Groupama 34 crossed the line only a few seconds before Oman Sail and Courrier Dunkerque. Ville de Genève finished fourth, ahead of TPM Coych, Crédit Mutuel Bretagne and BE Brussels Bienne Voile who crossed in seventh after sailing most of the course in fifth position.

Quotes of the day :

Sidney Gavignet, skipper of Team Oman Sail

« It was a beautiful day for us in Roscoff. We finished third and second. And there was a majority of Omani crew onboard, which is great because it is the aim of our campaign to take as many Omani sailors as we can on the boat. Sure it was a bit outlandish. At some point we hoisted the headsail before going upwind but the haylyard was not blocked so the sail dropped back down straight away. And later on, on a spinnaker drop, I had to hang myself to the sail because there was no sheet to hold it. But all of that happened in a great atmosphere and that’s the most important. We are relaxed and I think that’s key to our success as we managed to gain a few more points over the two leaders ».

Loïc Forestier, co-skipper of Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions

« The wind was perfect today. We had from 12 to 15 knots, and we love those conditions. Our team work was very effective and we made the right tactical calls. Everything went well. We have a solid crew and it’s good to see that even when we are tired, we are still in the game ».

Tugdual Becquemie, Helmsman of Groupama 34

«It was a good day but we could have avoided losing one or two points on the first race. Courrier Dunkerque 3 sailed well today. Every time we have a bad race we do our best to bounce back. We know it’s going to take a while to win some points back because the racing is very tight amongst the first few boats of the fleet, but we will try and finish the Atlantic part of the event in the best way possible ».

Pierre-Antoine Morvan, helmsman of Courrier Dunkerque 3

« If we keep sailing like this we are going to win the Tour, so for sure, it’s a great day! To extend our lead by one point is always nice. We did well on the first race. We had a good start and we managed to disturb them. On the second race, it was the other way around. They had a better start and went around the first mark in the lead and we couldn’t catch them up. But overall it was a great day »

Overall ranking :

1 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 550 pts
2 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 535 pts
3 Team Oman Sail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 517 pts
4 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 508pts
5 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, Nicolas Groux 483 pts
6 Normandy – Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 469 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 457 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 425 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 400 pts

Offshore leg ranking :

1 – Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 269 pts
2 – Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet, 253 pts
3 – Bretagne – Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel, 252 pts (…)

Technical ranking :

1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 285 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 281 pts
3 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, skipper, Nicolas Groux 265 pts (…)

Amateur ranking :

1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 469 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 457 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 425 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 400 Event website