Australians doing well in Tour de France a la Voile

by Isabelle Musy on 6 Jul 2002 The race committee have reinstated Panther Team GBR in race 5's results
following a possible disqualification last night for having not passed the
mark Antifer.

The international jury deliberated and decided to give Rob Greenhalgh's crew
a token 5 points penalty. Therefore, Panther Team GBR is still third in race
5, the first offshore race from Dunkerque to Cherbourg and stand in 8th
position overall as it was a 3.5 coefficient race.

British navigator Mike Broughton commented on this: 'They gave us the
minimum penalty they could give us. We're happy with it though it was a very
unfortunate translation error in the course file on a small point of the
course. It was accepted that we still sailed the proper course and the jury
and race committee have been very fair about it. We accept the token 5
points penalty they gave us.'

Jimmy Pahun, winner of this first offshore race onboard Région Ile de
France, also had to go to the protest room as the race committee was
protesting them for not having the masthead navigation light on when he
crossed the finish line. Brittany's skipper got away with a token 2 points
penalty.

Jimmy Pahun has an impressive crew composed of many single-handed offshore
experienced sailors such as Pascal Bidégorry, Erwan Tabarly and Nicolas
Troussel. Isabelle Autissier stepped off for that race and will be back
onboard tonight for the second offshore race to Paimpol.

'We do have a great team of experienced offshore sailors and I think that
made the difference. For the first time in the Tour de France à la Voile, we
organised a turnover in order to give a chance to people to have a rest. We
swapped people at the helm and Pascal only had to worry about the navigation
and the tactics', explained Jimmy Pahun on the dock after the finish.

Nantes-St-Nazaire still overall leader

The finish of that first long and demanding 187-mile offshore race was very
exciting. It has been a nail-biting finish with the fleet finishing in such
a tight pack. The Swiss of Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention managed to
pass a few boats inside the petty ground and crossed the finish line in
fifth which keeps them second overall.

Overall leader Nantes-St-Nazaire of Pierre-Loïc Berthet also had a great
race as they came home in second and therefore remain the overall leader.
'We didn't have a good start but managed slowly to get back into the lead.
We were hoping to finish this race in the top five. Second is even better.
We¹re still overall leader', commented the skipper of Nantes-St-Nazaire.

Student boat Force EDC skippered by Australia's Simon Sutherland had a very
good race coming in 7th. Thanks to this good result, the team comprised of
Australians, British and Dutch is now leading the student division ranking.

'It was a race where boat speed really counted. You have to constantly
adjust the sails', said Simon Sutherland who was sharing the driving with
British Mark Reynell. 'We are really happy with this result as it gives us
confidence for the following offshore races', added British navigator Sam
Stephens.

Amateur British boat Royal Thames of Owen Modral suffered from their lack of
offshore experience and went down the fleet after a strong start. They
finished in 22nd position and are now 6th in the amateur ranking division.
'We had goods and bads. We started very well and then had a couple of
mistakes on board. It didn't go so well during the first night. It takes so
much will power and experience to do well', said the skipper of Royal Thames
exhausted after 31 hours sailing upwind.

Aussie Nick Moloney was also knackered after this first experience of the Tour
de France à la Voile and on a Mumm 30. 'It was tough. We were all soaking
wet to start with but it was good racing. I didn't helm much as I wasn't
that happy with my driving. With this fleet, you can't afford to be slow for
a while because you loose so much!', commented the Jules Verne holder.

The crews are having a well-deserved rest before tonight's start of the
second 93-mile offshore race to Paimpol.