Martinique Cata-Raid 2023

Martinique Cata-Raid 2023 - Day 3

by Martinique Cata-Raid 26 Jan 2023 09:18 PST 22-28 January 2023

Martinique Cata-Raid 2023 - Day 3 © Pierrick Contin

Fast, not too furious and a bit tricky: that's how you could sum up yesterday's stage, the third of the Martinique Cata Raid; 25 nautical miles between Carbet and Anse à l'âne, a beautiful beach nestled in a green setting in the heart of the Three Islets National Park.

It was clear in the morning that the stage would be eminently strategic, an analysis confirmed by Patrick Carro who is teaming up with his son François on this tour: "It's going to be easier physically and much more difficult mentally, I prefer when the wind is a bit stronger. Here, it's more like Russian roulette, you can be stuck for a long time, it's a bit nerve-wracking. We will have to concentrate and above all try to have fun, that's the goal! ". Because when we passed the Caribbean coast of the island, the conditions changed radically. The sea has become gentler but the wind, subject to the many variations of the terrain, is much more erratic.

Before any decision by the Jury, in F18, Lou Mourniac and Pierre-Yves Durand - Acomalis were the first to cross the line at Anse à L'âne, ahead of Aurélien Ottou - Rémi Piazza - Bullet and Matthieu Marfaing - Jean Boulogne - MM Sailing.

The F16 Class is down to four competitors after the favourites retired yesterday due to damage. This is a situation that Christophe Sainglin / Olivier Magret are logically intending to exploit. They are ahead of Bérengère Kieffer and Pascal Marchais - USHIP. Flavien Bascoul and Sinclair Andreu - Trebuchon Equip finished third despite a jib cut in two.

Today, Thursday, it's a rest day for everyone, an ideal interlude to explore, discover and surely succumb to all the charms of Martinique.

The competition will resume on Friday for a leg between Anse à l'âne and Le Marin.

Martinique Cata-Raid 2023 - Day 3 - photo © Pierrick Contin

Lou Mourniac (Crew Pierre-Yves Durand - Acomalis)

"Once again we managed to get away from the group right from the start with a very good management of the small transition phases. The wind was really irregular, in these conditions you have to know how to readjust constantly; that's where we created the small gap with our pursuers. Then we had a very windy upwind at Fort de France. The southerners came back on us...fortunately we did not lose our advantage! There are still two stages where anything can happen. Our objective will be to keep our edge. I'm starting to get more comfortable. Obviously, as I'm more at ease, we're going a bit faster. I'm getting a better feel for the boat, so that's great! "

Remi Piazza (with Aurélien Ottou- Bullet)

"We had a very complicated start, it was a game of snakes and ladders; it's hard psychologically because you always have the impression that you're in the wind hole and that your friends are getting out in front! When the wind picked up, we found conditions in which we could make pure speed, and that suited us very well! We started to move up until we were second. At the finish, we were only 50 metres from the first boat. I'm both very happy with this result and a bit disappointed, because I think we could have caught up with them too. "

Matthieu Marfaing / Jean Boulogne - MM Sailing

"We got off to a great start. I was a bit tense and this great start did us well. Lou and Pierre-Yves found a little stretch of wind nobody else got and left everyone behind! I said to myself, "Oh no, this can't be happening! It's happening again like last time [at the 2020 World Championship here, Matthieu and Jean lost their third place in similar conditions]. In the end, we went for it, we worked hard, Jean did a great job, we managed the transitions well to get back into position. Then the upwind section was our weak point, with a small speed deficit! We were second for a long time, a place we lost on a small tactical error, but we made the podium only a few seconds behind Bullet. That's what's important, we also made up a little bit of time on Nicolas Gillet and Ian Girod.''

Flavien Bascoul (with Sinclair Andreu - Trébuchon Equip)

"It all started yesterday: We had our first capsize which cooled Sinclair down quite a bit, it took us a while to get back into the game, but ten seconds later, we capsized again and there I went straight through the mainsail! That was yesterday! Today, I went through the jib! So tomorrow, I'm will go through the spinnaker: we have to make one sail a day! I'm just kidding, and fortunately we have spare sails! "

Rankings can be found on the Martinique Cata Raid website.

Follow the race: A map is available to follow the races.