2015 Tour de France à la Voile – Late on the uptake

by Groupama sailing team on 19 Jul 2015 2015 Tour de France à la Voile – For this eleventh day of racing, which marks the end of the second third of the Tour de France à la Voile, the leader of the overall ranking struggled to get in on the action. Finally making do with a fortunate fifth place, whilst its closest rival took the win with as much ease as talent, Groupama has a 12-point lead over CombiWest this evening and 28 over third placed, Spindrift. Suffice to say that the battle for the title is far from over. Indeed, it has only just begun, as Franck Cammas sets off for Portsmouth and leaves the helm to Pierre Pennec.

There are days that start off badly, where nothing comes off quite right, even the simplest of things. Aboard Groupama 24, in a poorly established south-easterly wind at the start of the day, Franck Cammas, Pierre Pennec and Romain Motteau managed to rack up a whole series of blunders: late starts, approximate lay lines and restricted tactics.

Sixth in the first round of the qualifier races won by La France du Nord au Sud, we expected some fierce retaliation from the leader. However, there was no such thing in the second round, the wind picking up a notch, making the nasty chop less irksome. Second in the first race, CombiWest won it whilst Groupama did even worse in the previous race, finishing seventh. We were even starting to get worried about qualification in the Gold round for the final.

Luckily, in a wind that picked up to 25 knots in the gusts during the third qualifier round, causing the first capsize despite all the mainsails being reduced, Cammas and his crew got back down to business, finishing second, still behind Normandy Elite Team.

Qualified for the Gold round in a far from brilliant eighth position, the skipper of Groupama finally got off to a good start, jockeying for position at the front of the fleet and finishing third as they benefited from the capsize by Sodebo, which confused speed and haste. Winning the race once again, the crew of CombiWest logically stood out during today's play, ahead of a very good Normandy Elite Team, followed by La France du Nord au Sud and Grandeur Nature Vérandas.

Fifth on this Stadium day, Groupama posted its worst performance since the start in Dunkirk and concedes four points to CombiWest, which has enjoyed a very fine introduction to the Mediterranean.

'We took some time to be able to sail simply as we have done since the start of the Tour. Given that the overall standard of the fleet is continually climbing, that costs us dearly in terms of the scoreboard,' explains Pierre Pennec. 'Congratulations to CombiWest. They sailed very well today'.

Whilst Franck Cammas was giving a few final interviews on the beach before taking the wheel of the Team Groupama car to catch his plane in Perpignan, Romain Motteau, who is the bowman for the final stages of the Tour, catches his breath: 'It's really physical, when it's windy as it was today. It's nice though'.

As the skipper of Groupama one by one bids farewell to his co-skippers and shore crew, Quentin Ponroy is smiling: 'I'm climbing back on-board tomorrow and I can't wait'. Not destabilised with regards to the comeback by CombiWest, which made the most of the Spanish stage to snatch back five points from the leader, Pierre Pennec concludes: 'We're going to have a fine end to the Tour. Fred Guilmin is in great shape. He's going to come and hunt us down. And we mustn't forget Spindrift, which hasn't had a lot of success of late. Roll on tomorrow'.

With the boats in the process of being dismantled so as to be loaded onto the trailers and delivered to Gruissan, the sailors already have their minds on the grib charts for the coastal course, which will set sail tomorrow at around 13:00pm.

Overall ranking after the first eleven days:
1- Groupama with 534 points
2- CombiWest: - 12 points
3- Spindrift: - 28 points
4- Grandeur Nature Vérandas: - 34 points
5- Vannes Agglo: - 54 points
...
28- 30 Corsaires: - 262 points