Boite and Toupet win 505s at La Rochelle

by Simon Lake on 16 May 2008 Philippe Boite and Fabrice Toupet of France won the 505 Open at La Rochelle last weekend. Saturday was overcast with a building wind mainly force 4-5 occasionally 6, a late start meant that only two races were sailed a long way offshore.

Race 1 the first six boats quickly separated from the rest of the fleet Philippe Boite and Fabrice Toupet leading from Ben Iliffe and Simon Lake, and the Australian pairing of Earle Alexander and Ian Gregg.

Quite a bit of place changing went on behind the leading boat, especially with Bertrand Loyal and Xavier Detappe demonstrating very fast downwind speed. Terry Scutcher and Christian Diebitsch pulled through to second.

Race 2 Iliffe and Lake led from soon after the start but could not locate the gybe mark letting Alexander and Gregg take the lead followed by Loyal and Detappe. Iliffe and Lake regained the lead on the second beat but failed to cover on the final run letting three boats of Loyal/Detappe, Boite/Toupet and Alexander and Gregg through to finish fourth. Scutcher and Diebitch went hard right on the final run but failed to make any gains.

The sail home was a very long beat to windward and there were many tired sailors on shore that night.

On Sunday four races were held, after a delay of over two hours, in winds of force 2 to 3. Boite and Toupet dominated the day leading from start to finish in each race. Scutcher and Diebitsch sailed consistently throughout the day until they missed the tide change on the final run of the last race dropping four places to 8th at the finish. Day 1 contenders, Alexander and Gregg & Iliffe and Lake were buried in the middle of the fleet all day.

Monday dawned with very little wind and the race officer once again postponed the racing on the shore. A number of the british boats had to pack up and leave so missed the final two races which were held in force1-2 winds.

Again Boite and Toupet dominated the day and in doing so won the regatta, followed by Scutcher and Diebitch with a consistent 2nd and 3rd, enough to comfortably secure second place overall. Richard Williams and John Davies consistent sailing across the wind range earned them a well deserved fifth place overall.

505 - Leading results 8 races, 7 to count

1 FRA Philippe Boite/Fabrice Toupet 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 GBR Terry Scutcher/Christian Diebitsch 2 5 5 3 2 8 2 3
3 FRA Etienne & Emmanuel Boyer 10 6 8 2 3 14 2 3
4 FRA Bertrand Loyal/Xavier Detappe 3 1 19 5 5 3 8 13
5 GBR Richard Williams/John Davies 5 7 2 12 6 12 17 4

Other GBR and AUS:

13 GBR Stuart Turnbull/Jason Lunn 7 14 10 6 4 13 dnf dnf
20 AUS Earle Alexander/Ian Gregg 4 3 20 23 22 17 29 dnf
21 GBR Ben Iliffe/Simon Lake 6 4 25 19 15 16 dnf dnf
24 GBR Jim Berry/David Barnes 21 12 24 21 20 23 dnf dnf
30 FRA/AUS Daniel Nouraud/Pip Pearson 30 ocs 29 28 29 30 25 27