C-Class World Championship - Great day 3 in Falmouth

by MaxComm Communication on 25 Sep 2013 Billy Besson, Jérémie Lagarrigue, Mischa Heemskerk, and Bastiaan Tentij were perfect on this third day of the C-Class World Championship in Falmouth. Following their excellent performance of the second day – three second places- the crew Lagarrigue/Besson got three third places today in a very light wind and a quite heavy swell.

The second Swiss crew did not let the breakage of the previous day get them down: after one night of repairs on the wingsail, Heemskerk and Tentij got the second place twice and even won one race today. They thus manage to steal the only victory Groupama, sailed by Franck Cammas - winner of the Volvo Ocean Race, the 'Tour de France à la Voile', the 'route du Rhum', or of the Jacques Vabre Transatlantic Race, couldn’t get.

'It was really good to go back sailing today, and our goal was clear: to put the pressure on Groupama', the skipper Mischa Heemskerk said. 'That paid off: Cammas made some small mistakes that we tried to profit from'

The breakage that happened to one of the Hydros boats is not isolated: several boats couldn’t race today, illustrating the strong conditions of the previous day. From the technicians to the engineers, the nine members of Team Hydros who were in Falmouth worked hard on the wingsail of Hydros 11 all night long. The result was astounding: The C-Class could hoist a splendid functional wing this morning. Tiredness was obvious, but it was erased by the feeling to belong to an amazing and at the same time technological, sporting, and human project. 'We were crushed yesterday, but when we saw the energy that the team invested to repair our wing overnight, we went back sailing galvanized and highly motivated', continues Mischa with emotion.

In less than 8 knots of wind in the first race, 12 knots in the second one and a third race ending in less than one knot, the crew Besson/Lagarrigue had a small technical problem which prevented them from showing all the potential of the crew: 'Once again, we realized that we were going really fast downwind, and it is something that we must keep on working on', explained Billy Besson. 'We must focus on the adjustments, a clever strategy, and perfect starts! '

Six races have already been sailed- so the requirement to take out the worst result has been met. New qualifying races in fleet should be launched tomorrow, day of reserve. From Thursday, September 26 to Saturday, September 28 the finales in match race and the small finales in fleet will be held.

Results after six races :

1. Groupama, FRA, Cammas/Viat, 1-1-1-1-(2)-1, 7pts (5pts)
2. Hydros, SUI, Besson/Lagarrigue, 2-2-2-(3)-3-3, 15pts (12pts)
3. Fred Eaton, CAN, Eaton/Clarke, 4-3-3-4-4-(5), 23pts (18pts)
4. Hydros II, SUI, Heemskerk/Tentij, 3-(DNF)-DNC-2-1-2, 32pts (20pts)
5. Challenge France, FRA, Bentemps, Gahinet, (6)-5-4-6-6-6, 33pts (27pts)
6. Sentient Blue, ESP, Downey/Aviles, 5-4-5-(DNF)-7-7, 40pts (28pts)
7. Project Cogito, USA, Guck/Kramers, (DNC)-DNC-DNC-5-5-4, 50pts (38pts)
8. Team Cascais, POR, tbd, (DNC)-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC, 72pts (60pts)
8. Fred Eaton, CAN, Gooderham/Pavey, (DNC)-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC, 72pts (60pts)
8. Team Invictus, GBR, Phipps/Bader, DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC-DNC, 72pts Hydros website