BRED, winner of the first offshore leg and Nouvelle Calédonie, leader of the temporary overall ranking

First night of navigation and an arrival in Dieppe for the TFV boats. The finish line, located five miles away from the port entrance was crossed at 4.33 pm by BRED.

First night of navigation and an arrival in Dieppe for the TFV boats. The finish line, located five miles away from the port entrance was crossed at 4.33 pm by BRED.
Winner of this very tactical leg, BRED's amateur crew, including two Tahitians and a steersman trained in Guadalupe has arrived 23 minutes before the student crew of Défi SEP - Arts et Métiers, second and delighted. The Bienne Voile crew arrived third. For this first offshore leg, the top places have been taken by an amateur crew (BRED) and a student one (Défi Sep - Arts et Métiers)!

The boats left Dunkerque yesterday at 7.55 pm in a 15 knots wind. At 9.24 pm, the first check registered Côtes d'Armor in leading position followed by TPM - COYCH then Manche - Basse Normandie. At that time, the Farr 30 were sailing in a 12 to 14 knots wind. It is at the nightfall that the wind really complicated the game for the 23 competitors. The wind dropped gradually and the Farr 30 crossed the Ophélie buoy, located in front of Boulogne, ie. half way, in a thick sea mist and a 50 metres visibility. At 6.30 am, the fleet was still very packed and it took only one hour for the 23 Farr 30 to cross this signal. Between noon and 2.00 pm, the wind decreased even more, the front stream slowing down the boats. After this difficult waiting time, a north eastern wind finally raised. This twist was at the advantage of the boats, who decided to take the farthest offshore positions as the fleet had split during the night. The favourites, including Elcimaï - Ville de Marseille and Courrier Dunkerque, decided to get closer from the coast to avoid the stream. The option taken by the others, who decided to go to a more offshore position was finally the good one. BRED, whom skipper Eric Drouglazet is an experienced racer from the Figaro Circuit, boldly chose this tactic and get closer to the cargo eail. On arrival an 8 knots wind enabled them to cross the finish line with a 10 knots speed.
On the piers of Dieppe, the tiredness of the crews is more or less obvious. Some of them had no sleep at all, some could take some rest, but all are relieved to have finished. Besides, the unexpected ranking puts the student and amateur crews under the spotlights.

The time limit to cross the line was fixed at 6.48 pm. In theory, all the boats crossing after this deadline should have been considered DNF (Do Not Finished), but as the Ophélie buoy could not set up an official ranking, they will get an average penalty (see the explanations given by William Borel below).
This first offshore race will be given a ratio of two for the ranking. Thanks to that, Nouvelle Calédonie is leading position of the Honda general ranking, BRED is leading the Malongo amateur ranking (in 6th position for the general ranking) and Defi Sep - Arts et metiers takes the first place of the CSC Student ranking (4th position of the general ranking). The sailing boats will stay until Tuesday morning at the Henry IV wharf of the "cite d'Ango" (Dieppe's nickname). Races are scheduled for the Monday morning.

Focus on the BRED amateur crew and interview of Eric Drouglazet, their skipper

Professionals will have to beware of this amateur crew sponsored by a bank, which has been proudly displaying its team picture in its branches for months.
The crew is actually greatly diversified, with members coming from Tahiti like Yann Rigal or Nicolas Theron or also Thibault Vauchel Camus trained in Guadalupe. Famous yachtsmen, like Yann-Eric Pin or Vincent Holey will also join this crew all over the month of July.
And, last but not least, the two "professionals" members of this crew; Eric drouglazet, specialist of the circuit Figaro and navigator during this first offshore leg between Dunkerque and Dieppe, and Marc Bouet, steersman and National coach for the French team of Match race. If we mention of the great state of mind aboard, no doubt that BRED is likely to be on the top of the amateur ranking at the end of July.

"It was great to race with that much of challenge and unexpected twists. These were unforgettable times, a sheer pleasure. BRED was definitely the place where it was worth to be aboard.
We play on the amateur ranking but we have two professionals aboard. People expect more from us on those long distance legs than on the triangle races. I'm used to compete for solo races in Figaro where it's plenty of work... When you have a crew it's pleasant to have time to make plans depending on the weather or to pay more attention to the map. We are not too tired because we had some rest as winds were light. Now we are about to have a drink with the crew and the rest of the crew which was not aboard."

Interview of Gauvain Daeschner, manager of Défi SEP- Arts et Métiers

We were in the top ten at the beginning but we have lost our position during the night because of the tiredness.
Arrived at the Cap Griz nez, we were at the bottom of the ranking. Right after, the wind has fallen down and the fog has started to spread all over, which meant a whole new game. There was a strategic choice to be made at the Ophelie buoy. Our skipper has decided to head offshore. That was really worth it. When the fog started to fade away, we have realized that we had moved up in the ranking. At first it was hard to believe, especially because our GPS was not working properly.
We are all tired, none of us had any rest. There was no real break for anyone scheduled but we are really glad. It was totally beyond our expectations. When the fog faded away, it was almost magic. Our objective was the amateur top ranking, but we did not expect to get the general top ranking. We are more than satisfied.

Explanations of William Borel on the calculation of the points given to the boats which could not cross the line in the allowed time

The finish line had to be crossed before 6.48 pm. Only 14 boats could make it and cross the line early enough to get a ranking, the other ones will be considered DNF (Out of the allowed time). The race committee has not been able to operate the expected checking at the Ophélie Buoy located in front of Boulogne as the bad weather and especially a heavy sea mist have prevented any kind of visibility. Without this official checking, which would have allowed to establish the ranking of the DNF boats to be rank depending on their order of arrival at the Ophélie buoy crossing, the race committee has decided to use the following rule: the DNF boats will all receive a number of points equal to a average of the sum of the points that the boats should have received if they had crossed the line in time. Thus, the DNF boats of this first offshore race between Dunkerque and Dieppe will get a ranking based on a 24 points basis.