Tour de France a la Voile - Narrow miss for second victory

by ASO Sailing News on 12 Jul 2013 In the Tour de France a la Voile, it could have been a perfect day for Team OmanSail, if only they hadn’t missed a mark at the end of the second race! All M34s raced in fiftee knots of wind from the NE. The right side of the racecourse paid for the first race. OmanSail saw it, rounded the first upwind mark first and crossed the finish line first. Behind them the young TPM-Coych crew controlled Groupama 34 until the last mark. They only lost the second place to them because of a bad kite drop.

The Omani guys did very well on the second race too, but they narrowly missed a second victory after misidentifying a rounding mark. They finally took fifth. 'We misread the sailing instructions and did a stupid mistake,' said trimmer Guillaume Béranger.

Their error did not eclipsed the day’s highlights though: Groupama 34 took second twice, not winning but gaining points on Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite, fifth and third today, and Courrier Dunkerque, seventh and first. Normandie’s amateurs did well too with Bertrand Pacé at the helm, taking sixth twice.

Another in-port race will be sailed tomorrow at 12:00pm before the start of the Brest-Lorient leg at 8:00pm.

Guillaume Béranger, Team OmanSail trimmer: 'We were leading the last race by far when we messed up one last rounding mark. We were not clear on the French briefing instructions and the interpretation our English-speaking team made of it. I heard the F word quite a lot!'

Daniel Souben, Courrier Dunkerque 3 skipper: 'Brest’s harbour is a great bay to race in. It’s amazing to sail under the sun here. We are disappointed with our first race even though we won the second one. It’s a mixed day for us.'

Dévan Le Bihan, Groupama 34 trimmer: 'We are not worried about not winning anymore! We are only happy about our day because it was a tough one for everyone. Options were open because of the wind shifts and the current.'

Bertrand Pacé, Normandie helmsan: 'We finish right behind the good ones! Our speed improved but we are still at a different level. We were fourth during the second race when OmanSail and Sodebo overtook us because of a bad manoeuvre. I may get a bit too nervous onboard (laughs)!'



Overall ranking after 16 races before jury:

1 Groupama 34, Cammas Franck 625 Pts - Blue Spinnaker
2 Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite, Troussel Nicolas 594 Pts
3 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Souben Daniel 581 Pts
4 Sodebo, Coville Thomas 573.9 Pts
5 Team Omansail, Pouligny Cédric 554 Pts
6 Toulon Provence Mediterranee - Coych, Bernaz Jean-Baptiste 508 Pts
7 Ville De Geneve - Carrefour Addictions, Mettraux Elodie-Jane Et Groux Nicolas 494 Pts
8 Nantes - Saint Nazaire - E.Leclerc, Douguet Corentin 484 Pts
9 Normandie, Choquenet Baptiste 443 Pts
10 Martinique - Be.Brussels, Wolters Delphine Et Moures Matthieu 425 Pts
11 Iskareen, Dittmers Christiane Et Bruhns Sönke 421 Pts
12 Bienne - Voile – Srs, Peter Luzius Et Kunz François 386 Pts

Offshore ranking after four races before jury:

1 Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite, Troussel Nicolas 335 Pts - Spi Vert
2 Groupama 34, Cammas Franck 331 Pts
3 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Souben Daniel 313 Pts(...)

Technical ranking after 12 races before jury:

1 Groupama 34, Cammas Franck 294 Pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Souben Daniel 268 Pts - Spi Rouge
3 Sodebo, Coville Thomas 262 Pts (...)

Amator ranking after 16 races before jury:

1 Normandie, Choquenet Baptiste 443 Pts - Spi Rose
2 Martinique - Be.Brussels, Wolters Delphine Et Moures Matthieu 425 Pts
3 Iskareen, Dittmers Christiane Et Bruhns Sönke 421 Pts
4 Bienne - Voile – Srs, Peter Luzius Et Kunz François 386 Tour Voile website