Coupe de France J/80 Series 2022
by Marc Le Borgne 4 Dec 2022 03:19 PST
Coupe de France J/80 2022 © Classe J80 France
Marc Le Borgne reports on the season-long Coupe de France J/80 series.
"The good thing about J/80 is that each regatta offers everyone, whatever the final classification, the possibility of glorious moments, sometimes furtive, often spectacular, but always memorable for the crews concerned.
The classification of the Coupe de France does not take into account all these individual successes but, for those who take the time to examine them, it gives a fair measure of the joyful spirit of competition that reigns within the J/80 Class.
In this regard, 2022 was a great success, as evidenced by key figures:
- 119 participating teams (+37% compared to 87 crews in 2021)
- 21 Youth teams (2x compared to 2021)
Incredibly, in the history of the J/80 Coupe de France, this was the first time ever there was a tie on points (338) between 1st and the 2nd places.
On the strength of their three victories (GPEN, European, Nationals) it's the Ecole Navale crew of Pierre Laouenan that takes the top step on the podium. It helped that the Ecole Navale crew for the Nationals were a bunch of "heavyweights": Christian Ponthieu, Sophie Faguet, Pierre Loic Berthet, and Jean Queveau. It was enough to snatch victory from the APCC-PL Yachting Armen Habitat crew of Simon Moriceau, leader until the start of the last race of the season. The series was also well under way for the APCC champions with a victory at SPI OUEST France, consolidated by another victory in Lorient (Télégramme). But, the Brestois, by winning the Europeans and the Nationals, caught up to the APCC boys in the number of points and wins by the count of victories.
The Nationals is definitely a good marker of racing talent, because the top 4 in the National are also the top 4 in the Coupe de France. It was another crew from the Ecole Navale-Club Ailée led by Patrick Bot who took the third step of the podium, while Frank Lavenant's young Malouins, despite their fine victory at the Normandy Cup, had to be content with the 4th place.
Youths
Therefore, we aren't surprised to see Frank Lavenant dominating the Youth ranking. He and his teammates can draw inspiration from the trajectory of one of their predecessors- Quentin Delapierre. If you recall, Quentin, after a brilliant start in the J/80, is now standing up to the extreme rigors of the America's Cup on the Sail GP circuit, where he currently occupies 3rd place ahead of Ben Ainslie and Jimmy Spithill!!
The young Brestois of Jean-Baptiste Bernard and the Saint-Malo team of Titouan Sessa complete the podium of the Youth classification.
Note that, for the first time since this ranking has existed, in 2022 there were more "Youth" teams (21) than "Master" (19) crews... rather encouraging for the J/80 class!
Masters
The Masters (3 crew members, including the skipper, are over 45 years old) outcomes was not surprising. Why aren't we surprised to see Jacques Hubert dominating the Masters ranking head and shoulders above everyone else? It must be said that he has again "put together the whole package" this year by participating in all the events of the circuit. Even if only the best 4 (out of 6) are taken into account, his pursuers (Ludovic Gilet and Bruno R de Véricourt) could not do anything. Jacques can particularly congratulate himself on his 8th place at the GPEN and 13th at the Nationals.
Women
Fortunately, Emilie Petitbon and her "Eau Feminine" crew came to the Nationals to demonstrate that a women's crew could perform veyr well in J/80s. We will have to wait until 2023 - and perhaps a dedicated marketing plan - for the 4 crews in this ranking to be joined by some of the 40 who participate annually in the Women's Cup on the APCC J/80s.
Mixed
We counted six mixed crews (+50% female), which is not so bad. There were also 18% of women at the Nationals. We are not at parity but it is better than the Route du Rhum! The winner of this ranking, Frank Lavenant (him again) also sends an encouraging message because he is also a "hopeful" crew: diversity is the future! On the 2nd step of the podium, we find the crew of the J'Rouette club skippered by Ludovic Bueno. These 2 crews raced respectively 6 and 5 regattas on the circuit, which demonstrates a remarkable level of commitment. Les Malouin(e)s skippered by Titouan Sessa- another promising crew- finished 3rd in this mixed ranking.
Clubs
Finally, the classification of Clubs (cumulative of the 3 best individual performances in each of the 6 regattas of the circuit) has, this year again, fluctuated a lot. In the end, it was the Club Ailée de l'Ecole Navale that clearly won after having dominated 4 of the 6 regattas on the circuit. The APCC, thanks in particular to a great delegation to the Atlantique Télégramme in Lorient and the energetic contribution of the PL Yaching Armen Habitat crew (Simon Moriceau), steals 2nd place from the Malouins (SNBSM) who brilliantly complete the podium.
Some whisper that it takes a Ph.D. in data mining to decipher the rankings of the Coupe de France J/80. But, that shouldn't discourage sailors who know the D1 D2 D3 tensions of their rig by heart to within a half-turn of the turnbuckle for all wind forces."
More information at www.classej80france.com