MOD70 European Tour - Sweet taste of revenge for Spindrift Racing

by Spindrift Racing on 10 Sep 2012 MOD70 European Tour 2012 - Sweet taste of revenge! Yann Guichard and his seven men crew, onboard Spindrift Racing, could not help rejoicing and remembering the bitter outcome of last Thursday’s finish of the first leg while bagging the overall Dùn Laoghaire City races.

With three MOD70s, Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux), Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse) and Spindrift Racing tied in first place, it was up to the Speed Match to break the score and pick a winner.

Aggressive as ever on the starting line, Spindrift racing left no opportunity to anyone to come up front. 'A well-deserved win!' said Yann Guichard, skipper of the big black and white trimaran. 'Without some confused situation in race N°4 and an unclear change of course, we should have won two out of three races.' Yesterday’s races proved to be the first windy races since the beginning of the European Tour in Kiel. 'I am particularly happy with the way we behaved in strong winds' explains Guichard. 'The key was to start clear of the fleet. Then everything becomes easier once you have open waters ahead to decide when to tack or gybe.'

'Victory makes us forget about how tired we all are!' The European Tour mercilessly goes on with its tight schedule. The MOD70s shall depart at 3.00 pm (GMT +1) and say goodbye to Dublin. Cascaïs in Portugal is waiting 1.212 miles away. Passage points include the Fastnet rock and cape Saint Vincent. 'Strong winds up to 30 knots are expected' says Guichard. 'It’s gonna be all upwing beating to the Fastnet in southerly breezes. Then as we skip behind the cold front, winds shall turn North East and it will be a downwind speed race across the Bay of Biscay. Sea state will be the decisive factor about how fast will get to Portugal….'

The six men crew will be kept busy all the way till departure time with some minor repairs to the mast and the loading of food and water.

Spindrift racing crew for leg 2: Yann Guichard, Leo Lucet, Jacques Guichard, Pascal Bidégorry, Thierry Douillard, Yann Eliès.

Dùn Laoghaire City Race after six races:
1- Spindrift racing (Yann Guichard) 12+11+9+11+12+8 = 63 points?
2- Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse) 9+10+11+12+11+10 = 63 points?
3- FONCIA (Michel Desjoyeaux) 11+12+12+10+9+9 = 63 points?
4- Race for Water (Stève Ravussin) 10+9+10+8+8+12 = 57 points?
5- Musandam-Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet) 8+8+8+9+10+11 = 54 points

Provisional overall ranking:
1- Foncia : 75 pts
2- Spindrift racing : 70 pts
3- Groupe Edmond de Rothschild : 65 pts
4- Race for water : 55 pts
5- Musandam-Oman sail : 51 Spindrift Racing website