Sea, Sail & Surf newstour de France à la voile
The rock and roll race of the regatta
jeudi 25 juillet 2002 –
The fleet had left the docks in Marseille this morning at 10:00 but started motoring, as the wind was too strong. The race committee set up the start line in La Ciotat bay, which is protected from stronger wind. The gun fired at 13:42 in a 20 knots north-westerly wind that soon picked up to 30 and even 35-40 knots in gusts.
Panther Team GBR, skippered by Rob Greenhalgh, scored a strong second place that make them climb up to 4th overall. Student boat Force EDC, skippered by Simon Sutherland came in fifth position.
The gap is again narrowing between the top three overall, with less than a 8 points difference. Jimmy Pahun’s Région Ile de France finished in 4th and therefore gained a few more points over the top two. Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, skippered by Etienne David, finished in 9th and leads again overall. This is due to the fact that Pierre Loïc Berthet’s Nantes-St-Nazaire scored a disappointing 15th position. It really looks like it’ll come down to the last race to know who will win the Tour de France à la Voile 2002.
"It’s like a new start. Today was a day where you couldn’t afford to take too many risks as to win the Tour de France à la Voile you must finish it. We’re happy to finish where we did considering we started (29th at top mark). We’re happy to get the red spinnaker back but it’s gonna be really tight. There are 8 races left and anything can happen", explained the Swiss skipper Etienne David. And added : "But today was the best. It was just amazing. We were all on our knees at the back of the boat with the bow constantly covered with water".
The atmosphere on the docks in sunny Hyères was really good as everyone was most enthusiastic about today’s downwind conditions. "It was good fun. A slay ride in 25 knots of wind all the time. It even got to 35 knots. We were just at the edge of control. It was really fast. It is the best sailing for this boat. We seem to be good in theses conditions as it’s no really new for us", said Ian barker, helmsman onboard Panther Team GRB. The skipper Rob Greenhalgh was also really happy though slightly disappointed as they had been leading most of the race : "We could have won but we capsized and got ourselves in a mess. That’s when they passed us. Later on we were coming back but we capsized again. It was really windy but it was awesome".
The same smile was on all the crew of Force EDC. The Aussie skipper Simon Sutherland commented on the race : "It was the best race we had so far. It was just awesome. We were not so good at the top mark but as soon as it got windy everyone started to wipe up and we managed to keep it up and therefore passed about 15 boats. We had the masthead spinnaker all the time". "Unfortunately we broached just towards the end and lost three boats. It was frustrating as we hadn’t been wiping up before", added British navigator, Sam Stephens.
Mike Broughton who is going back home today said he’ll keep good memories of this good last race. A race that will stick in the minds of everyone who was sailing.
Tomorrow, there will be four inshore races outside Hyères.
Isabelle Musy
Today’s race results
1. Vitamine – Hyeres – Coych skippered by Nicolas Clement
2. Panther Team GBR skippered by Rob Greenhalgh
3. Kenzo skippered by Marc Thiercelin
4. Région Ile de France skippered by Jimmy Pahun
5. Force EDC skippered by Simon Sutherland
Overall results after Race 27 before jury with one discard
1. Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention / Etienne David 1556,75 points
2. Nantes-St-Nazaire / Pierre Loic Berthet 1551 points
3. Région Ile de France / Jimmy Pahun 1548 points
4. Panther Team GBR / Rob Greenhalgh 1403,5 points
5. Défi Partagé / Thierry Bouchard 1403,25 points
6. Ville d’Antibes –NEC / Julien Farnarier 1387 points
7. Dieppe-Seine Maritime / Gildas Philippe 1359 points
8. Côtes d’Armor Toztes Voiles dehors / Vincent Biarnes 1324 points
9. Kenzo / Marc Thiercelin 1320,75 points
10. Marseille / Dimitri Deruelle 1319,5 points
11. Force EDC / Simon Sutherland 1318,5 points (1st student boat)
Dans la même rubrique
Tour de France à la voile : Marseille’s Mistral leads Panther Team GBR to victory
Tour de France à la voile : The Med yet again produces surprise results
Tour de France à la voile : Vascotto drives Cassis Maugio Carnon to first victory
Vasco Vascotto. Photo : JM.Liot
Tour de France à la voile : The Swiss snatch their fifth victory in Sète
