Normandy Channel Race completed

by Kate Jennings on 28 May 2011 Normandy Channel Race 2011's four remaining crews have sailed across the finish line. The ninth spot was taken by Joe Harris and GryphonSolo2 while Phesheya's crew finished only 30 minutes behind them.

Almost an entire day after the leaders finished up their race, the only two all female crews in the fleet sailed in to bring the Normandy Channel Race 2011 to a close. The all female crew onboard 40 Degrees finished the race in eleventh place with a final time of 4 days 21 hours 28 minutes and 18 seconds while the all female crew onboard Ocean’s Eleven's sailed in just behind them in twelfth place.

The 12 Class40s are alongside tonight and the prize-giving will take place tomorrow, Saturday 28 May at 1700 GMT. A final gathering which will nicely round off this2011 edition!

A few minutes after their arrival in eleventh position, Hannah Jenner and Anna-Maria Renken aboard 40 Degrees, looked back at their race: 'We didn’t come here to win! It was our first race. We were keen to learn, to get in some training and to test the boat. Our initial aim was to complete the course and we did that! Our real goal in fact was to beat the girls. Yesterday, Thursday, we were ahead of them but we’d eased off the pace and they were beginning to catch us up. We asked ourselves a good many questions and we ended up with some answers. At that point, we said to ourselves 'Wowwwwwww, so that’s how you go fast!'

'We are exhausted, we’ve eaten nothing, but we’ve also learnt so much! After such a race we’re even more motivated for the Global Ocean Race. Right now, we know what we have to change and work on and so on. The Normandy Channel Race was a great training ground. We were able to discover the rhythm of life when racing, which is not something you get a chance to do every day. Above all, it enabled us to validate our pairing. On a boat, the slightest crisis situation can degenerate. At least now we know we share the same vision of things and we’re capable of getting on during a race.'

Caroline Vieille Olagne and Stéphanie Alran aboard Ocean’s Eleven, twelfth in the final ranking: 'Since yesterday’s arrival of the frontrunners we haven’t really thought too much about all the cold beer they were enjoying. At that point we were happy with the conditions we had and we were able to make up a bit of ground on 40 Degrees. We never lost our motivation.

From the outset we were aware that we weren’t going to win and we set ourselves other objectives: getting the boat making headway, sailing cleanly and reducing our deficits in relation to the boats in front as much as possible. Above all though we battled against the clock. It was really great and we’re proud to have gone the whole hog. We made a very fine comeback yesterday.

We drew a line through the mistakes we made at the start and rounded things off in style. We really enjoyed ourselves on the final downwind run. It was wild. We had 40 knots of breeze and heavy seas and we were creaming along. Next up is Les Sables Horta and then the Transat Jacques Vabre. The Normandy Channel Race is an extraordinary race. It’s a fine course and we got a very warm reception which is really something special!'

Definitive ranking:

1. Initiatives Saveurs in 3d 22h 25m 25s
2. Port De Caen Ouistreham in 3d 23h4m 12s
3. Despieds Et Des Mains in 3d 23h 12m 35s
4. Mare.De2 in 3d 23h 40m 14s
5. L'Express– Sapmer in 3d 23h 42m 56s
6. Talanta in4d 1h 0m 10s
7. Defi GDE- TZU Hang in 4d 2h 34m 27s
8. Red in 4d6h 20m 40s
9. GryphonSolo2 in 4d 18h 18m 56s
10. Phesheya Racing in 4d 18h 43m 58s
11. 40 Degrees in 4d 21h 28m 18s
12. Ocean’s Eleven in 4d 22h 31m 16s

ABD Livewire
ABD Spliff
ABD Marie Toit - Caen La Mer
ABD Partouche

Normandy Channel website