WOW Cap Istanbul and French Open Sea Solo Championship to Gabart

by Cap Istanbul/Sail-World.com on 15 Oct 2010 WOW Cap Istanbul race concluded on Thursday 14th October. François Gabart won the fifth and final leg from Boscaada to Istanbul.

The first leg of the race commenced on Sunday September 19th.

Final leg report from Thursday October 14th

At 17.22.37 local time, François Gabart was the first racer to cross the finish line in Moda. In doing so, he became the winner of the final leg of WOW Cap Istanbul - a second time win for Skipper Macif 2010. By performing a last-minute attack, François Gabart had managed to get on the podium as the winner on Didim-Bozcaada leg as well.

Following the Bozcaada start he was in third place in the general ranking. Now he patiently has to wait for his rivals to arrive at the finish. Because the competition amongst him, Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) and Fabien Delahaye (Port de Caen Ouistreham) will only come to a conclusion once they all complete the race. Then it will be clear whether he is only the winner of WOW Cap Istanbul or the French Open Sea Solo Championship as well.

François Gabart (Skipper Macif 2010) has in fact created a success trilogy by winning the final leg of WOW Cap Istanbul. The young sailor is not only proud to arrive at the symbolic bridge between Europe and Asia in Istanbul, Turkey along with the joy of victory, but also is enjoying his triumph at the French Open Sea Solo Championship, although this is not yet officially confirmed by the referee committee and the French Sailing Federation.

Taking full advantage of the last lights of the day, François Gabart crossed the finish line of WOW Cap Istanbul with the greatest victory. Out of touch with the radio, the skipper of Macif 2010 wasn't even aware that he was leading, nor could he see the positions of his rivals since yesterday. In the extremely misty visibility conditions of Marmara he could only make out the bearing on his compass and was watching out for the large ships. There was no visibility whatsoever beyond that.

Only after the race was over did he figure out that Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) was 20 miles behind him, stuck in a windless hole. Suddenly his path to victory at the French Open Sea Solo Championship was cleared. The winner of WOW Cap Istanbul was frozen with astonishment and joy. When he came back to his senses he had a sigh of relief and put an end to the tensions of the last days.

In truth François Gabart's victory was uncertain. Because no one knew what would happen. Everything came to culmination in the final leg of the race. The most effective moment of the whole race took place offshore Marmara Island. Choosing to keep close to the shore as opposed to most others, François met with the northeastern wind here. The skipper of 2010 was suddenly freely moving forward. But since he didn't look back or couldn't see anything even if he did, he wasn't aware that everyone else was in agony at 5-knot speeds. By morning the distance between them was enormous.

On the same course as the leader, Isabelle Joschke (Synergie) and Louis-Maurice Tannyéres (ST Ericsson) were using the same wind, achieving over 10 miles distance from the rest of the fleet. Just like Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert), Fabien Delahaye (Port de Caen Ouistreham) was stuck in a rut as well.

From then on there was two sides to this race. For the leading threesome, there was a 12-knot breeze coming from the raining north. And yet at the same exact time, the rest of the fleet was motionless and drifting with the currents down south.

For the outsiders the clouds were slowly clearing. By the entrance of the Bosphorus, it was slowly clarified that François Gabart was in for victory. In accordance with the weather predictions, Isabelle Joschke and Louis-Maurice Tannyères were lucky to be able to put their trust in their ranking too.

Jean-Pierre Nicol (Bernard Controls), Eric Péron (Skipper Macif 2009) and Erwan Tabarly (Nacarat) were the first three sailors to free themselves of the windless area. This leg carried a lot of weight for Erwan, because he still had a chance to take second place after François.

François Gabart:
'I wasn't sure that I won the leg until I found out how the rest of the fleet was doing. We sailed through fog all day. There could have been a lot of people only 2 miles around me, but I couldn't see anyone. Not knowing where everyone else was didn't influence my strategy. I had a strong motivation.

'With the final leg completed, I won WOW Cap Istanbul and also became the French Open Sea Solo Champion. The distance between me and Gildas, who performed miracles in the previous leg, wasn't a lot. But I ended up being the one who won. The real art is to win the most critical legs. I'm doing my best to learn what these sensitive points are from my masters and more experienced peers.'

The sailor to end the list of arrivals in Istanbul was Francisco Lobato. The racers suddenly found themselves at the heart of a metropol of 16-million inhabitants. The heart of Istanbul was beating in the fishermen's harbours, in the city's crowded streets and of course in the Bosphorus that is a home for a myriad of boats daily. This magical city was presenting itself in its many forms and colours to the wondering eyes of our visiting sailors. Only if there wasn't so much rain…

Istanbul is a fusion of modernity and traditional living, peaceful sounds of the call for prayer and frightening sudden brakes of the taxi drivers, industrialisation and dominance of small-time tradesmen... This is a striking change of view for our sailors who have been disconnected from the daily realities of life for so long. Slowly this enormous city will take them back to real life. They will go back to their homes, daily routines, little things which they are surely looking forward to... For now, that is...

In only a matter of short months they will be itching to breathe in the sea air again. Because the sea will call out for them. They say, seamen are incorrigible... The real life examples of this stand right before us.

Top three arrivals for Leg 5

1 François Gabart - Skipper Macif 2010 - 1d 01h 44min 37s
2 Isabelle Joschke - Synergie - 1d 02h 00min 40s
3 Louis Maurice Tannyères - ST Ericsson - 1d 02h 31min 10s

October 13th report:

So far the WOW Cap Istanbul fleet haven't had a bad run with the infamous windless weather of the Mediterranean. They passed the Aegian pretty fast as well. But Marmara is different... The Marmara sea welcomed the sailors with a much displeasing chaos. The ranking was once again turned upside down. A light breeze coming from no discernible direction embittered the racers. Like this wasn't enough, the rain was ceaseless.

They still have 60 miles to go before Istanbul, meaning they only managed to make 50-mile headway so far.

In fact the final leg that started in Gelibolu began very competitively, with a good breeze and strong tramolas in parallel to the shoreline. But the wind died down so completely that it was impossible to watch out for other racers or the course. Moreover none of them even knew where they were going. Whoever detected a little breeze somewhere made an attack in that direction. Basically everything seemed upto luck.

Since the beginning of the leg, staying close to the shore proved to be more advantageous. The ones that were sailing by the shoreline advanced more, no matter how slowly. François Gabart (Skipper Macif 2010) is leading the fleet and seems happy to be doing so. No doubt, coming fourth in the Didim-Bozcaada leg didn't feel very good. Now he leads 3 miles ahead the rest of the fleet who are still struggling with windlessness.

Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) who gained the leading position in the general ranking after his victory in the Bozcaada leg, is now far behind him. Just like Fabien Delahaye (Port de Caen Ouistreham) and Francisco Lobato (Roff Tempo Team) are. Whereas Gildas Morvan was still in the lead throughout the night, by sunrise everything had changed.

Isabelle Joschke (Synergie) and Louis-Maurice Tannyères (ST Ericsson)in François Gabart's trail have made the right decision to keep close to the shore. This threesome are advancing fast . We are left to wonder if they will become candidates for the podium.

The situation resembles a Hitchcock movie. The script of WOW Cap Istanbul turned into a horror movie the end of which is impossible to tell until the very last moment. The last 50 miles of the race will be immensely tense.

Overall Results:

WOW Cap Istanbul 2010
Classement général
Distance totale : 1 637,50 milles
Rang	Voile	Bateau	Skippers	Temps de course	Écart au premier	Vitesse moyenne	Pénalité
1	3	Skipper Macif 2010	François Gabart	10j 15h 35min 18s	00s	6.41 nds	10j 15h 35min 18s
2	2	Nacarat	Erwan Tabarly	10j 17h 23min 02s	01h 47min 44s	6.36 nds	10j 17h 23min 02s
3	55	Port de Caen Ouistreham	Fabien Delahaye	10j 17h 37min 46s	02h 02min 28s	6.36 nds	10j 17h 37min 46s
4	1	Cercle Vert	Gildas Morvan	10j 18h 30min 18s	02h 55min 00s	6.33 nds	10j 18h 30min 18s
5	35	Generali	Nicolas Lunven	10j 19h 38min 17s	04h 02min 59s	6.31 nds	10j 19h 38min 17s
6	40	Banque Populaire	Jeanne Grégoire	10j 19h 46min 15s	04h 10min 57s	6.30 nds	10j 19h 46min 15s
7	97	Savéol	Romain Attanasio	10j 20h 08min 55s	04h 33min 37s	6.29 nds	10j 20h 08min 55s
8	88	Vendée 1	Frédéric Rivet	10j 21h 09min 44s	05h 34min 26s	6.27 nds	10j 21h 09min 44s
9	79	Macif	Eric Péron	10j 21h 25min 37s	05h 50min 19s	6.26 nds	10j 21h 25min 37s
10	80	Lufthansa	Ronan Treussart	10j 21h 42min 04s	06h 06min 46s	6.26 nds	10j 21h 42min 04s
11	25	Espoir Région Bretagne	Anthony Marchand	10j 22h 53min 41s	07h 18min 23s	6.23 nds	10j 22h 53min 41s
12	85	ROFF / Tempo-Team	Francisco Lobato	10j 22h 55min 24s	07h 20min 06s	6.23 nds	10j 22h 55min 24s
13	66	Synergie	Isabelle Joschke	10j 23h 07min 24s	07h 32min 06s	6.22 nds	10j 23h 07min 24s
14	30	Ensemble autour du monde	Marc Emig	10j 23h 46min 43s	08h 11min 25s	6.21 nds	10j 23h 46min 43s
15	100	La Solidarité Mutualiste	Damien Guillou	11j 00h 41min 29s	09h 06min 11s	6.19 nds	11j 00h 41min 29s
16	192	Vendée	Sébastien Josse	11j 01h 55min 57s	10h 20min 39s	6.16 nds	11j 01h 55min 57s
17	10	LUISINA	Eric Drouglazet	11j 02h 06min 49s	10h 31min 31s	6.15 nds	11j 02h 06min 49s
18	87	Türk Telekom	Selim Kakis	11j 02h 39min 05s	11h 03min 47s	6.14 nds	11j 02h 39min 05s
19	15	TPM - Hyères	Mikaël Mergui	11j 03h 24min 13s	11h 48min 55s	6.12 nds	11j 03h 30min 13s
20	72	Prysmian	Giancarlo Pedote	11j 10h 35min 18s	19h 00min 00s	5.96 nds	11j 10h 35min 18s
21	68	Bernard Controls	Jean-Pierre Nicol	11j 02h 39min 16s	11h 03min 58s	6.14 nds	11j 11h 09min 16s
22	39	Port de Plaisance Roscoff	Damien Cloarec	11j 15h 50min 37s	1j 00h 15min 19s	5.85 nds	11j 15h 50min 37s
23	42	TPM	Matthieu Girolet	11j 17h 54min 23s	1j 02h 19min 05s	5.81 nds	11j 17h 54min 23s
24	38	Senoble	Arnaud Godart-Philippe	11j 19h 52min 22s	1j 04h 17min 04s	5.77 nds	11j 20h 52min 22s
25	37	Artemis Investment Management	Jonny Malbon	12j 00h 16min 43s	1j 08h 41min 25s	5.68 nds	12j 00h 16min 43s
26	65	ST Ericsson	Louis Maurice Tannyères	11j 17h 45min 47s	1j 02h 10min 29s	5.81 nds	12j 01h 45min 47s

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