Groupama Nouvelle-Caledonie Race - Top Kiwi racer takes line honours
by Sail-World.com on 27 Sep 2016
Frank Racing - Groupama Race Nouvelle-Calédonie Patrice Morin
http://www.patricemorin.com
The New Zealand ORMA60 trimaran TeamVodafoneSailing/Frank Racing has taken line honours in the 650nm Groupama Nouvelle-Caledonie Race.
She crossed the finish line at 10.33.12 on Tuesday morning, local time.
Still racing are the monohulls, led by the supermaxi Scallywag, formerly Ragamuffin.
The race got underway on Sunday at 10.00am with a fleet of 19 yachts starting in the Baie des Citrons, Noumea.
Crews from Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand competed in the race against the local fleet, which got underway in an uncharacteristic westerly win of 10-12kts .
The wind direction forced the race into a downwind start with Scallywag, second over the line in the 2015 Sydney Hobart, and Frank Racing (formerly TeamVodafoneSailing got a good start sailing at more than 15kts off the start, leading a top fleet which included Scallywag, Beau Geste and Ichi Ban.
Frank Racing (Simon Hull) stretched her legs to hit 29 knots peak in the Canal Woodin on the first night, running up more than 16 sail changes.
The remainder of the fleet are expected to cross the finish later Tuesday afternoon and evening.
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