Longtze Premier's at Monaco’s Primo Cup-Trophée Crédit Suisse

by Longtze Media on 18 Feb 2009 The eleven-strong fleet of Longtze Premiers participating in the Longtze European Tour have made a remarkable start to the season at Monaco’s Primo Cup-Trophée Crédit Suisse regatta last week-end. Lively, quick, exhilarating… these new sportsboats have shown their advantages on the often-tricky Monaco waters. Following seven extremely close races, Nicolas Bérenger’s team (Kone Monospace) won in front of Lufthansa skippered by Luc Gellusseau, and Eckhard Kaller’s Swiss boat, White.

With 4 victories out of 7 races run, Nicolas Bérenger and his team on Kone Monospace, won Primo Cup-Trophée Crédit Suisse in the Longtze Premier class. Over three days, this last weekend, the Longtze Premiers put on a great show in Monaco. A large number of the 11 teams entered into this first event of the Longtze European Tour were new to the sportsboat, known as much for its high performance as its capacity for fun. “Everyone fully enjoyed themselves!”, underlined Luc Gellussseau, skipper of Longtze Premier Lufthansa.

“Sporting!” was the first word out of Nicolas Bérenger to describe the feeling after his initial race in Longtze Premiers. “It was extremely close on the water. This was a constant ‘full on’ battle'. The racing was very even and it never let up during the seven races sailed. On board Kone Monospace, we all had good backgrounds sailing in dinghies: this helped us a lot, especially the first day (Kone Monospace won the three first races in 25 knots of breeze, with surfing estimated at 16 knots!)

Luc Gellusseau and his team on Lufthansa finished second, 6 points behind the leader and with a smile: “we fought out seven extraordinary races! A true pleasure! The races have been intense… It was at times a bit wild in the breeze on Friday! The Longtze Premier is a very light boat, so it is very quick to react and demands constant weight compensation by the crew. Not surprisingly, the regattas are exciting.”

The battles which took place on the water did nothing to spoil the atmosphere which prevailed between the 'gentlemen skippers' of the Longtze Premier class: “here is mutual respect. It is very professional. On the water as on shore they are gentlemen!”, noted Nicolas Berenger. “The atmosphere was very enjoyable, as we were made very welcome by the Yacht Club de Monaco.’

The large majority of the 11 Longtze Premier teams entered into the Primo Cup were new to the sportsboat. Everyone learned a lot, and want to learn more! “It is an easy boat and was immediately a pleasure to sail, but required some quick learning to fully take advantage of its potential - trimming the sails, balance, etc. There is a lot of room for improvement!” commented Nicolas Bérenger.

“We are going to work on the sails, the manoeuvres, mast adjustments...', confirmed Athema’s skipper Erwan Tabarly. “We didn’t manage to really be in the fight in this first event, but we will be better next time. We are going to take the boat back to Brittany to train for the Grand Prix de l’Ecole Navale.”

The Primo Cup marks the start of the Longtze European Tour. For the next event on this European Circuit, the Grand Prix de l’Ecole Naval, taking place next May in Brest, the Longtze Premier teams will be even better prepared!

Overall standings for the Longtze European Tour, and Longtze Premier results in the Primo Cup:

1. FRA 820 – Kone Monospace - 10.00 points
Nicolas Berenger, Edouard Masse, Pascal Lancelot, Sylvain Chtouder

2. FRA 818 – LUFTHANSA - 16.00 points
Luc Gelluseau, Cedric Pouligny, Stephane Marcelli, Laurent Berjon

3. SUI 816 – WHITE - 19.00 points
Eckhard Kaller, Sven Niklaus, Sebastian Reischl, Theresa Zeiser

4. FRA 806 - 23.00 points
Guillaume Florent, Bastien Deroi, Gregoire Napoly, Armand Coursodon

5. SUI 815 - 26.00 points
Andreas Bientz, Simon Brugger, Damian Weiss, Pascal Alder

6. FRA 804 - 31.00 points
Marc Emig, Guillaume Delmon, Christopher Pratt, Churet

7. FRA 805 - ECOLE NAVALE - 35.00 points
Ariane Provost, Nicolas Febvay, Pierre Edouard Regaud, Stéphane Christidis

8. FRA 822 – ATHEMA - 43.00 points
Erwan Tabarly, Erwan Lees, Yvan Kerever, Dominique Falc’her

9. FRA 821 – KONE - 49.00 points
Arthur Le Vaillant, Ophelie Theron, Guillaume Le Tuaud, Quentin Le Nabour

10. SUI 812 - LA JAUNE - 54.00 points Andreas Bienz, Heiko Falch, Marcel Maden, Marcel Baches, Benjamin Boehringer

11. FRA 819 - INCENTIVE CONCEPT – 66.00 points
Ivo Bucci-Marconi, Enrico Sala, Jonny Schiavo, Robert McFarlane

The Longtze Premier European Tour is a European circuit of five events, beginning with the Primo Cup. Some fifteen Longtze Premier’s will participate in this first edition.
Primo Cup - Trophée Crédit Suisse : 12-15 February 2009 (Monaco) ?
Grand Prix de l’Ecole Navale : 21-24 May 2009 (France) ?
Deauville International Week : 4-7 June 2009 (France) ?
Light Vessel Race, Zeebrugge : 4-6 September 2009 (Belgium) ?
Lake Constance Regatta, Kreuzlingen, 16-18 October 2009 (Switzerland)