Tour de France à la Voile - Overall lead to Courrier Dunkerque 3

by www.sail-world.com / ASO on 2 Jul 2012 The first warning signal of the day for the Tour de France a la Voile was at 10.30am with the fifteen M34s sailing three tactical legs in front of Malo Les Bains beach. There was a triangle track – start line, upwind mark, short dogleg and a downwind mark – twice. 20+ knots of wind blew from the South-West and it was very shifty. The wind came from the land and generated a nasty swell, which made steering tricky. Strong winds and a bad sea state made for quite an introduction for the teams!

The start line was in front of the entrance of Dunkerque’s harbor with fifteen knots of SSW – SW wind, shifts and gusts reaching 20+ knots along with pretty good sea state. The Dutch team Tu Delft was above the line at the start and got penalised, while the Russian team Fascinating Seas International quickly took the lead and aimed to keep it up until the end. At the first upwind mark, the Swiss of Bienne Voile did a small manoeuvre mistake and caught the boy. They retired as did Ile De France, Bred / La Normandie and Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite.

Tacticians got it right and headed for the coast to make the most of Dunkerque local effects. Upwind, the fleet sailed a tacking battle on a half mile-wide band towards the upwind mark. The level was high and there were many changes in the lead position. Courrier Dunkerque 3 rose above though. The local team was in great shape and won the first two races of the day.

The last tack of the third leg was a tougher one. Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite finally won in front of the pier, just ahead of the Dunkerque team. Meanwhile, the Southern crew of TPM Coych seemed to be comfortable in the North too… finishing third, seventh and third.

Bienne Voile retired during the second leg after they lost one of the mast blocks which was an easy fix - putting Lorenz Mueller’s team is back in the game for the third leg.

Josselin Le Moine’s amateur crew (Cotes D’Armor Bretagne) finished sixth, third and eighth – a very good day for the young guys of the Collectif France Espoir Monotype, now fourth overall! Their pre-race work is paying off. They seem at ease on the tactical legs – don’t be surprised if they perform like this again.

The Tour de France à la Voile 2012 is just starting and the competition is already tough. Courrier Dunkerque 3, Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite and TPM Coych – the three favourites – kept up with their reputation: they are leading the overall ranking tonight. D+1 only, there are still three weeks of racing left, the fight should be difficult and the show should be great!

The fleet will leave tomorrow at 10.30am for an inshore leg (from 37 to 53 miles) along the Flanders dunes. The exact length will be communicated tomorrow during the skippers briefing at 8.30am (coefficient one if less than 50 miles; coefficient two if more than 50 miles).

Nicolas Troussel – Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite: 'A good day. We sailed in strong conditions and did couple of twirls! There is always a bit of fear regarding the material in this weather, but we like the breeze. We will repair the spinnaker tonight and let’s go! The good boats are in front and it will be interesting.'

Daniel Souben – Courrier Dunkerque 3: 'We wanted to start off well – it’s rather a good day! A small technical mistake when rounding the second downwind mark (leg 3) cost us a lot. Because the last upwind tack was rather complicated and because our rivals are strong, we didn’t manage to get back into the lead.'

Leonid Klepikov – Fascinating Seas International: 'I’m rather happy. We had our lot of technical problems but this new team is really great. They fought like wolves! There is still a lot to do to get to know the boat and coach the crew but I’m feeling positive tonight.'

Lorenz Mueller – Bienne Voile – SRS: 'We still have some work to do to get to know this new boat: we a had couple of problems upwind, we lacked information but we knew that before we came. There is a learning phase. We are not gloomy – all the contrary!'

Provisional ranking after three races, coefficient one:
1- Courrier Dunkerque 3 (FRA 08) - Daniel Souben / 74 points
2- Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Elite (FRA 18) - Nicolas Troussel / 68 pts
3- Toulon Provence Mediterranee –Coych (FRA 07) - Fabien Henry / Tugdual Becquemie / 65 pts
4- Ile De France (FRA 1) - Vincent Aillaud / 61 pts
5- Cotes D'Armor Bretagne (FRA 14) - Josselin Le Moine / 61 pts
6- BAE Systems (OMA 4) - Cédric Pouligny / 61 pts
7-Nantes Saint Nazaire - E.Leclerc (FRA 6) - Corentin Douguet / 60 pts
8-Ville DE Geneve – Carrefour Prevention (SUI 19) - Jérôme Clerc / Elodie Mettraux / 56 pts
9- Bred / La Normandie (FRA 15), skippé par Arthur Herreman / Baptiste Choquenet / 53 pts
10- Tu Delft (NED 1) - Pieter Van Notten / 51 pts
11-Iskareen (GER 11) - Christiane Dittmers / Sönke Bruhns / 46 pts
12-Region De Bruxelles - Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (BEL 2) - Bertrand Pacé / 45 pts
13-Fascinating Seas International (RUS 023) - Léonid Klepikov / 38 pts
14-Martinique - Mediabat (FRA 2) - Mathieu Mourès / 38 pts
15-Bienne Voile - SRS (SUI 22) - Lorenz Mueller / François Kunz / 31 pts

Schedule – 2th July 2012
08h30 : Briefing skipper
09h00 : Départ du ponton
10h30 : Parcours côtier
17h30 : Retour au Event website