Tour de France a la Voile - Opportunity seized by Courrier Dunkerque 3

by Fabienne Morin on 20 Jul 2014 In the Tour de France a la Voile, it was supposed to be a windy leg, but when the fleet left Gruissan at 8am this morning, the wind was not exceeding eight knots. And a few miles further, it was even worse. The M34 got becalmed just off Cadaques, near Cape Creus. Groupama 34 and Courrier Dunkerque 3 were sailing at the front of the fleet with deflated spinnaker. Daniel Souben had a bit more luck and they seized the opportunity, finding a wind corridor et escaping alone in the lead.

After Cape Creus, the wind started to build up and the fleet took off full speed downwind all the way to Gruissan, reaching more than 10 knots of boatspeed.

At 15.09, the black boat crossed the finish line in first, followed by Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite and Groupama 34 a few minutes later. The team of Crédit Mutuel, with their three Figaro sailors onboard, had a great race, going a bit further East to benefit from a favourable wind shift and pass Groupama and Oman Sail.

The finish order in this offshore leg doesn’t change the ranking, but the leader Courrier Dunkerque recovers four of the five points he lost yesterday over Groupama, and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel is now only one point behind Oman Sail fighting for third step of the podium.

On the Corinthian ranking, Toulon Provence Méditerranée must be pleased with their fifth place today, specially after being penalised at the start for going too early. But this result only brings them two points closer to the Corinthian leader Normandy Acerel.

Tomorrow the competitors will have three inshore races to complete with a first start at 10am. The weather forecast predicts some unsettled conditions with thunderstorm and potentially strong wind.

Daniel Souben, skipper of Courrier Dunkerque: 'It just came down to the light wind patch in the Bay of Cadaques, just before Cape Creus. We were sailing very close with Groupama and we were fighting hard to get the advantage. Which we did. We got lucky. We managed to take off and fly away from the coast and from the rest of the fleet. Then the wind started to build and we finished the course in one gybe under spinnaker all the way to Gruissan. It’s always nice to collect a few more points as we know it’s going to be tight until the end in Nice next week. It could have been better because at some point, there was more boats between Groupama and us, but it’s still good to take. Sure we were lucky but we seized the opportunity. We were on the right side and we knew the wind would build up from there.'

Corentin Horeau, navigator onboard Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite: 'It was a short race and it was wet. The atmosphere onboard is great. It’s the first offshore leg for me since I arrived. It’s been two years for me since I last competed in the Tour so I am very happy to be here. Yesterday we also had a great day in terms of results so now we are going to try and win more points on each race until the end.'

Sidney Gavignet, skipper of Team Oman Sail: 'We made a few mistakes. Under full spinnaker, we passed Groupama knowing that the wind would build up and we were too late hoisting the smaller spinnaker. Bretagne hoisted it first. Then we had a no wind patch and Groupama passed us. We are disappointed because we could have finished second and in the end we are fourth and we are losing four points. It’s frustrating.'

Martin Le Pape, navigator onboard Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCH: 'We would have liked to gain more points over Normandy Acerel, since they were behind the Swiss team at some stage, but we are happy with our result. We had a great race with the top teams. I placed the boat offshore knowing the wind would build up from there, and this is what happened. It was the right option, but in the Med, we never really know how things are going to end. It’s never over until it’s over. Our crew is feeling more and more confident and we hope to keep doing well until the end in Nice.'

Overall ranking:
1 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 669 pts
2 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 651 pts
3 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 627 pts
4 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 626 pts
5 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, Nicolas Groux 586 pts
6 Normandy – Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 564 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 553 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 526 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 487pts

Offshore leg ranking:
1 – Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 343 pts
2 – Bretagne – Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel 325 pts
3 – Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet, 318 pts (…)

Technical ranking:
1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 335 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 326 pts
3 Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet 309 pts (…)

Amateur ranking:
1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 564 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 553 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 526 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 487 pts
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