Martinique Cata-Raid 2023 - Day 4
by Martinique Cata-Raid 29 Jan 2023 03:51 PST
22-28 January 2023
Martinique Cata-Raid 2023 - Day 4 © Pierrick Contin
We were expecting light winds for this penultimate race between Anse à l'âne and Le Marin and finally the wind came in with a squall on the start line; a squall that propelled the small ultra fast catamarans to quickly pass Cap Salomon under spinnaker.
The Passe des fous (between the coast and the Pointe du Diamant) was also kind to the fleet with around fifteen knots and above all, a rare phenomenon at this point, a relatively flat sea. The fleet completed the course with a long upwind leg before reaching Le Marin.
The stakes in this 29-mile race were high as the points in the overall rankings were relatively close after three races. "The Martinique Cata Raid is won in Le Robert, you have to do the best you can, but no one is immune to technical problems", Nicolas Gillet (with crew Ian Girod - Socoveam Anmizzi - third in the general standings) reminded us this morning before the start of this fourth and penultimate leg. The Martinique native certainly didn't think he had it all figured out! After the best start, the crew experienced technical problems: the spinnaker, stuck at the masthead, caused them to lose precious minutes.
On the same downwind, Aurélien Ottou and Rémy Piazzia - Bullet, second overall after three races, were fouled by a gust of wind and also saw the lead of the fleet slip away.
At Cape Solomon, Lou Mourniac and Pierre-Yves Durand - Acomalis were overtaken by Matthieu Marfaing and Jean Boulogne - MM Sailing. The two crews then engaged in an epic battle and, above all, left the rest of the fleet in their wake.
On the upwind leg between Le Diamant and Le Marin, the speed of Lou Mourniac and Pierre-Yves Durand's F18 was dazzling. The Bretons gave their pursuers no chance and won by one minute and 41 seconds.
Emmanuel and Vincent Boulogne - Cirrus 901 found their way back to the podium and took the third step, crossing the line almost 6 minutes after the winners of the day.
In F16, the victory of the day went to Christophe Sainglin and Olivier Magret - Poils d'oursin - auteurs d'une manche supersonique, 7th overall! Flavien Bascoul / Sinclair Andreu - Trébuchon Equip crossed the finish line 8 minutes 22 seconds ahead of Bérengère Kieffer and Pascal Marchais - Uship, third today.
All results are subject to confirmation by the jury.
Pierre - Yves Durand (Lou Mourniac - Acomalis): "We got off to a great start, with a slight left shift at the start. We passed three in the squall at the clearing mark. The leg towards the Anse d'Arlet was incredible: under spinnaker, we made 22 knots at one point, it was ecstasy. We were overtaken at the tip of Le Diamant: we had made a bit of distance but felt too safe and let them came back into the game. We had to work hard all the way to Le Marin to overtake them again and open up a gap. The arrival in Le Marin with Ste Anne next to us, tacking next to the boats at anchor, was magical! We talk a lot on board with Lou to try and get the best settings. I think we've got a comfortable lead for tomorrow, but anything can still happen, we have to go all the way!"
Jean Boulogne (Matthieu Marfaing - MMSailing): "We were managing the transitions well, we were really well set up with Matthieu, especially when reaching. It's true that upwind, I'm still struggling a bit, I'll need a bit more sailing experience, but it will come. We were expecting a nice day of calm, trying not to get stuck and finally 15 seconds before the start, there was a squall, it was full on and we had a great day's sailing! I'm happy to see Dad and Vincent back on the podium today; they had a few problems at the start of the race, but now they're back; I'm pleased to be fighting with Dad."
Vincent Boulogne (with Emmanuel Boulogne - Cirrus 901): "We are really pleased with this first podium of the week, especially as we broke a daggerboard. We made a tack further offshore which worked better. Those who stayed close to shore were locked in, like Nico (Gillet, etc...). We got through well and then we fought to keep our third place. After the Diamant, on the upwind leg, the boat worked very well at this speed."
Christophe Sainglin (with Olivier Magret - Poils d'Oursin): "We had another great race today! We're very happy: a beautiful day with wind and sun!"
Full rankings here