Mundial 40’ Gijon, Class40 World Championship Coastal race

by Veronique Largeau on 24 Jul 2010 Mundial 40’ Gijon - Class40 World Championship.

2:25pm is when today’s race started - 40 miles on a coastal course that took all 14 boats to Lastres – a hillside village 18 miles East from Gijon – and back.

With eight knots of wind blowing from the Northwest, five boats took a false start including Jean-Edouard Criquioche on Groupe Picoty, who corrected straight away. Four others didn’t do so: Tales with Gonzalo Botin, Concise 2 with Ned Collier-Wakefield, Moonpalace with Adrian Van Oord and Roeland Franssens and Phesheya-Racing with Nick Leggatt. The windward buoy was located two miles in 300° and it was first reached in a lessening wind by Thomas Ruyant on Destination Dunkerque. He was followed by Marc Lepesqueux on Marie Toit-Caen la Mer and Moonpalace with Adrian Van Oord and Roeland Franssens.

An 18-mile downwind leg took the fleet to Lastres and Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs-Pôle Santé Elior took the lead, Marie Toit-Caen La Mer was second and Destination Dunkerque third.

The Spanish team on Tales, second yesterday, held their place on Concise 2, the title holder finished eighth. Groupe Picoty had been last to leave but caught up and finished in ninth position, beating Vecteur Plus, Sam Manuard.

Then with main sails raised, the fleet slid down their code 0's and sailed at eight to nine knots.

Thierry Bouchard kept the lead and finished in first place in the first round of this 2010 Class40 World Championship, Gonzalo Botin and Thomas Ruyant finished behind him.

Thierry Bouchard (Mistral Loisirs – Pôle Santé Elior) winner today: 'We are very happy about today. We did have some unexpected technical problems and we lost a lot of time but we managed stay focused and catch up thanks to a very homogeneous crew.'

Thomas Ruyant (Destination Dunkerque), third on the coastal course: 'It was not an easy one for us, our boat wasn’t designed for such light winds. But we did a good analysis of the sailing area and ended up on the safe side.'

Provisional ranking, first round, Mundial 40’ Gijon before jury decision:

1. FRA83 – MISTRAL LOISIRS-POLE SANTÉ ELIOR (Thierry Bouchard)
2. ESP65 – TALES (Gonzalo Botin) – OCS in progress
3. FRA88 – DESTINATION DUNKERQUE (Thomas Ruyant)
4. GBR90 – 40 DEGREES (Peter Harding)
5. GBR93 - CONCISE 2 (Ned Collier Wakefield) – OCS in progress
6. FRA26 – MARIE TOIT-CAEN LA MER (Marc Lepesqueux)
7. NED75 – MOONPALACE (Adriaan Van Oord & Roeland Frassens) – OCS in progress
8. FRA85 - GROUPE PICOTY (Jean-Edouard Criquioche)
9. GER66 – RED (Mathias Müller)
10. SMR84 – VECTEUR PLUS (Sam Manuard)
11. RSA23 – PHESHEYA RACING (Nick Leggatt) – OCS in progress
12. FRA91 – KOGANE (Patrice Bougard)
13. FRA56 – NEURODON.FR/ESPOIR EN TETE (Christian Chardonnal)
14. FRA20 – AUX FILLES DE L’EAU (Anna Corbella)

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