Speedmeute crowned queen of APCC J/80 Women's Cup
by J/Boats 28 Mar 2023 10:56 UTC
APCC J/80 Women's Cup © APCC Voile
The 13th edition of the APCC Women's Cup was again hosted by APCC Voile in Pornichet, France for a fleet of two dozen women's teams from across France.
The women's teams sailed in a fleet of matched J/80 one-design class sailboats supplied to the competitors. The racing was hard fought, and close, and came down to the final two races of the nine-race series on the final day.
The two days of racing were characterized by very challenging conditions, with fog, rain, wind, and good-sized waves to make running the bow of the boat hard for any nimble-footed crew. Here is how it all went down over the two days of racing for the 120-plus women sailors participating in the regatta.
Day 1:
It was in foggy and slightly damp weather that the first races of the Women's Cup were launched at the end of the morning in front of the pier at the port of Pornichet. A total of eight "qualifying" races were sailed by the twenty-four crews taking part in the all-women regatta.
After a general briefing at 11:30 AM, the first start was launched in 15-18 knots of westerly wind. Wet, cloudy, and foggy is what best describes the weather of the day, but that's not what stopped the crews from their motivation and their determination.
After a day of competition, it was Christelle Philippe's LES TATAS FLINGEUSES* Team (Amelie Sadoc, Eva Foucher, Celine Devaux, and Claire Le Gal Glaymann) that took the lead in the provisional classification with the enviable record of four straight bullets. However, everything remained to be raced for overall honors on Sunday. Overnight the fleet got split into two divisions, a Gold and a Silver fleet.
Conviviality: the keyword of the Women's Cup
After the first day, the competitors gathered around the traditional round table with Chloé Virat (Team ELLES) and Julia Virat, around the subject of surpassing oneself and the place of women's sport. This was followed by the draw for the raffle for the benefit of Plan International and the dinner for the crews.
The young teenage skipper of the SAILING'AIR team, Clemence Benhayoun, commented, "we are five high school girls, sponsored by the Lycée Grand Air. We met at the APCC Voile Sportive while taking lessons on Wednesday afternoons with coaches Mathilde and Benoît. The Women's Cup is our first regatta. We are quite happy with this day because it was the first time that all five of us were sailing. We had a great time!"
Kenza Coutard, the skipper of the SPEEDMEUTE team, had this to say about the day's sailing, "our crew on the Speedmeute has been sailing together since September 2022 last fall. We are a 100% female team that competes on the match-racing circuit. We came to the Women's Cup to prepare for the French Open J/80 Match Racing Championship, which takes place in Antibes next week. Today, we are satisfied with our day. Our goal for tomorrow is to progress technically and continue to match in front of the other girls. The conditions were great and the welcome here at the APCC was great. (And the chocolate is very good!)."
Behind Philippe's LES TATAS FLINGEUSES team leading the provisional classification were Mathilde Geron's YAGGA team (Sophie de Turckheim, Caroline Vandame, Willow Terrassier, and Julia Virat) in second place and Coutard's SPEEDMEUTE team (Nell Castilla, Eolia Rio, Enza Geslin-Grimaud, and Victoire Lerat) sitting in third place.
Day 2:
On Sunday morning, the 24 crews were divided into two groups: a Gold fleet and a Silver fleet based on the provisional rankings from Saturday's racing.
The first race of the day was launched by the race committee at 10 a.m. in slightly lighter conditions than the day before. The Silver fleet started with four straight races. Then, the Gold fleet was able to follow up with five more races in more sustained, steady breezes. In the end, that meant a total of seventeen races were sailed by the women's teams in demanding conditions over the two-day weekend. That's a fantastic achievement!
The final day produced a LOT of DRAMA for the top five Gold fleet teams. For the first race of the day (5th in the regatta), Philippe's LES TATAS FLINGEUSES crew produced their fifth straight win! It must've been a bit demoralizing for the other lady's teams. Their 5 pts total gave them a 4 pts lead over YAGGA and 7 pts over SPEEDMEUTE. However, as you're about to find out, the winds of fortune changed dramatically in the next four races for everyone.
The next two races saw Coutard's SPEEDMEUTE team win both races to vault themselves into the overall lead with 13 pts. Much to their chagrin, Philippe's LES TATAS team posted a 5-6 to drop into a tie for second at 16 pts each with Geron's YAGGA team posted a steady 4-3.
If that surprise flip-flop wasn't enough to stress even the "coolest" skippers and tacticians, the penultimate race produced even more surprises!
Lurking in the shadows of the top three on the leaderboard all along was Riou's LA GALERNE. Finally, she was rewarded with a 1st for her efforts in the 8th race! Much to their wild, screaming delight, that performance vaulted them from fourth into a tie at 18 pts each for the lead with Coutard's SPEEDMEUTE that had just posted a 5th!
Meanwhile, Geron's YAGGA and Philippe's LES TATAS both had their "fall from grace with the sea moments", the former posting an 8th and the latter a 10th. They both fell into 3rd and 4th, respectively, in the provisional standings.
With the APCC Voile RC/ PRO team announcing yet one more race for the fleet, it was readily apparent the now very frazzled skippers and tacticians on the top boats were either going to rise to the occasion or simply implode from stress.
With good, steady breezes, it should've been easy for the early regatta leaders to maintain their composure, keep a steady hand on the tiller, get a good clean start, sail clean mark roundings, go fast, stay out of trouble, and post another podium or top 5 finish. Well, as you can guess by now, that was not going to be the ultimate scenario!
Digging deep, the LES TATAS and YAGGA teams had nothing to lose and sailed their "own" races, so to speak. They came out aggressive, smart, and fast in their last race to post a 1st and 2nd, respectively.
Meanwhile, the two regatta leaders tied on 18 pts each had a big enough lead over the other teams (6+ points) to engage in a proverbial "catfight", circling and swiping at each other all race long. Getting the short end of that duel was Riou's LA GALERNE, "falling off the face of the Earth" to score her worst race by far- an 11th. Meanwhile, recuperating somewhat after disentangling from their catfight was Coutard's SPEEDMEUTE, managing her worst race in the regatta with a 7th place.
When the smoke cleared, and the points tallied, the 9th race finale produced a somewhat shocking outcome.
Barely hanging on by her fingertips was Coutard's SPEEDMEUTE, ending with 25 pts to win the first regatta in the Women on Water sailing league series in France! Geron's YAGGA's final race 2nd raced her back up the standings to take the silver medal only one point back from the leader with 26 pts total! And, by winning the last race, early regatta dominatrix with five straight bullets- Philippe's LES TATAS team- also leaped back onto the podium to take the bronze medal just one point further adrift! Wow, what an incredible turn of events for these teams! Sadly, Riou's LA GALERNE team suffered the most incongruous outcome and had to settle for 4th place. Rounding out the top five was Emilie Petitbon's EAU FEMININ team (Juliette Bataille, Celine Vromandt, Marianick Bapst, and Elise Duchenne).
Here is the "tale of the tape" below- the scoring table for these top five teams showing cumulative points race-by-race.
SPEEDMEUTE's skipper- Kenza Coutard- commented on her win, "we were comfortable at speed in these conditions, we lacked a bit of precision on the starts. It was super cool to sail, there was a good leading group with whom we played well. We had to fight every leg, every tack, and never give up until the end. And, that's what paid off. It was a great battle!"
Hélène Prud'hommes - Race Committee Chair- said, "in a very dynamic atmosphere, we were able to launch 17 races during the weekend. The crews were enthusiastic and had fun. The atmosphere of this event is always friendly with a sporting and competitive spirit. It's more fun when the crews are on the water! It's great competition! It's a pleasure to have motivated sailors like that."
During the Sunday awards, a solidarity raffle was organized to support a great cause. Thanks to the generosity of the partners of the APCC and the participants in the regatta, the APCC Women's Cup will give a check for 560.00 EUR to the NGO PLAN International, an organization that has been working since 1937 for the protection of children and the respect of their rights.
The Women's Cup this year brought together 120 sailors from all over France for three days. A great success for the race that was first created and organized by the APCC in 2011. It marks the start of the WLS Trophy championship (which has 10 stages) of the French Sailing Federation (the French Women League Sailing series).
*Les Tatas Flingeuses- is a French phrase that roughly translates to "The Trigger-Happy Aunts" in English. It is a playful and humorous expression that refers to a group of women who are known for being quick to use firearms as if they were in a Western movie. The phrase is often used in a lighthearted way to describe women who are strong and independent, and who are not afraid to take matters into their own hands! Love that, don't you all?!
More information at www.womencup.fr