The wind was very light today, the only day for triangle races to take place in Normandy. Indeed, with such a light wind, the race committee had to postpone several times the start of the race, which was finally the only triangle race of the day. Initially, the race was supposed to be held in front of the Pourville village, but given the instability of the wind, it was too difficult for the race committee to set up a proper start line. After several hours spent waiting under a shining sun and a almost complete lack of wind, the fleet was directed to a new area 1.5 miles away, as the wind seems to get stronger when getting further from the coast.
Finally, the start is given at 3.35 pm with a 6 to 7 knots North-East Wind. Individual recalls for Ile de France and Ville du Port-Région Réunion, who immediatly repair.
The fleet spreads all over in a pretty homogeneous way. Nouvelle Calédonie, which has taken the better start, is the first to cross the first windward buoy, located a mile away at the 75°. Its crew led by Ronan Dréano pulls the Honda red spinnaker, distinguishing symbol of its leading place of the overall ranking which has been won yesterday at the offshore leg from Dunkerque to Dieppe.
At the leeward door, the wind drops, the boats brush against each other and some crews get rather excited. The very strong stream leads to the north east and the organization fears a last downwind leg facing the stream and under a very light wind. Thus, the race is shortened and the end of the race is announced at the second leeward buoy.
Nouvelle Calédonie wins this race, as it was already the case last year at the same place in Normandy, followed by Elcimaï-Ville de Marseille.
This calm weather, not unusual for the Swiss crew of Ville de Genève-Carrefour Prévention used to sail on the Leman lake helped them as they take the 3rd place of the ranking. The Swiss amateur Bienne Voile also take the 4th place. It might be noticed that Courrier Dunkerque moved up in the ranking in rather a spectacular way, moving from the 12th place at the first windward buoy to the 6th one at the arrival, which put it on the 7th place of the general ranking.
To sum up, the professional crew of Nouvelle Caledonie keeps the leading place of the Honda overall ranking, BRED at the 4th place of the overall ranking is still first in the amateur ranking when Normale Sup Lagardère, 9th at the overall ranking takes the lead of the CSC student ranking.
Tomorrow, the 23 Farr 30 will leave Dunkerque and head to Saint Cast Côtes d’Armor. This second offshore leg, 190 miles long is likely to be tough on the physical plan but also difficult tactically speaking. A rather quiet weather is forecast for tomorrow as a 10 to 12 knots wind is expected for the start of the race. Nouvelle Calédonie crew won’t take long to celebrate this victory. “We just gonna have a quick drink and then go back to take some rest so as to be ready for tomorrow’s offshore leg that we expect to be tough”, Ronan told us as he arrived at the pier.

Focus on Nouvelle Calédonie
Participations to the TFV: 4
Skippers : Ronan Dréano / Vincent Portugal.

Having finished at the third place of the overall ranking in 2008, Nouvelle Calédonie keeps its path toward success, as confirmed by its second place at the ranking of the “semaine de Deauville” event, which is casually considered as a good sample of what to expect for the TFV. Nouvelle Calédonie has some serious experience and is not a beginner. As a matter of fact, it’s the 4th time that this boat, which has been gradually improving over time, will participate to the TFV. Vincent Portugal who will be the skipper for the races in the Mediterranean area and Ronan Dréano, 470 specialist and skipper for the Manche and Atlantique area, are more than ever determined to hit the top. Moreover, Vincent Portugal has already won the TFV in 2007 with the INSA crew on the student category. Vincent and Ronan rely on a well-trained crew with some serious experience and especially Bernard Mallaret as steerman, a genuine specialist of the event.
However, Nouvelle Calédonie doesn’t have only sportive ambitions but also embodies an Island which every year shows its support and share their enthusiasm for “its” boat successes.

Interview of Ronan Dréano skipper for Nouvelle Calédonie:

“There was not that much of wind today, but we did pretty well! We gonna try to keep it that way. We waited for a while, just hoping for the wind to rise.
We took those times as opportunities to sail a bit as soon as there is enough wind and before the start signal. We took a great start, we were at the right speed within the right pack. We already took the red spinnaker last year in Dieppe. We hope to have it at the right moment this year, I mean at the end ! Right now, the plan is to have a quick drink and then head back to have some rest before tomorrow’s race as it’s planned to be rough.”

Results:

The leaders for each of the three rankings (before jury’s examination):
- Honda Professional ranking: Nouvelle Calédonie
- Malongo Amateur ranking : BRED
- CSC student ranking: Normale Sup Lagardère

Agathe Armand / Laura Ruaudel / Effets Mer