The wind has been particularly erratic since the beginning of the Tour de France à la Voile 2009. It obviously turned to the advantage of the student and amateur crews, as it was the case today when they showed their talent under a light 5 to 6 knots wind.
Given this kind of weather, a triangle race was held instead of the offshore leg from Saint-Cast to Saint-Quay, Côtes d'Armor. The amateur crew of Espoirs Ile de France won, followed by the CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale student crew and TU Delft. At the end of that race, the fleet headed to Saint-Quay, using their engine.

Triangle race report:
The start of the race was given at 1.50 pm. With a 5 to 6 knots wind, the race is a very tactic one. Brest - Grandes Ecoles is first to cross the buoy, followed by Espoirs Ile de France and CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale. At the first leeward door, the Espoir Ile de France crew led by Jean Pierre Nicol outdistances the crew of Brest - Grandes écoles led by Loïc le Garrec. As the wind is instable, a change in the previous trail is announced: the windward buoy is moored at 50° and the dog leg is shortened to only one mark.
Finally, Espoirs Ile de France wins its first race. This victory leads the amateurs to the 5th place of the overall ranking and 1st place of the Malongo amateur ranking. CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale is second and the Dutch team from TU Delft is third.
Nouvelle Calédonie ends in 4th position and so keeps the first place of the Honda overall ranking for the 5th day in a row !
Concerning the student ranking, the students from Brest Grandes Ecoles finish 6th. They are at the top of the student ranking and 4th of the overall.
Courrier Dunkerque arrived in 5th position of the triangle race. The North crew is still following closely the leader and TPM - COYCH takes the third place of this temporary overall ranking.
The 32nd TFV fleet is scheduled to leave for Saint-Quay tonight around 7.00 pm.

Interview of Hervé Gautier, CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale manager:
Hervé Gautier has been managing a CSC crew for the Tour de France à la Voile since 1999. This quiet man remains one of the most impressive characters of the race: he won three times since his first participation to the competition, 16 years ago, as Jimmy Pahun's crew.
Being trained in the Merchant Navy, Hervé chose sailing as a professional path in 1982.
At that time he was employed as captain by the owners of racing boats and looked for sponsoring to race by himself. "I couldn't find any sponsor. When my buddies asked me to join their crew to sail, I did so."
Nowadays, he shares his time between boat racing and nautical computing systems trade and development. Computers and magnetic compass take half of his time, actually all the time that he doesn't spend training HEC and Ecole Navale students for their next TFV.

Focus on CSC HEC Ecole Navale :
4th involvement in the TFV, winner of the student ranking in 2008 and 2006.

The difference between the student crews and the other ones is their great turnover. The crew change as the students graduate and keeping their level though is not an easy challenge, but it is Hervé Gautier's one. For the forth time, he is managing the crew of CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale, something that he may be gifted for as they have been leading the student ranking in 2006 and 2008.
This specific kind of crew includes among their ranks top athletes from the Ecole Navale. Three members from the National Military Sailing team will be steersman one after an other, Christophe Espagon first, aboard since the very beginning has just been replaced by Billy Besson. Felix Pruvot will be next.

Hervé Gautier tells us more:

About this student project:
"The CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale team is a two schools project. We start the training sessions as soon as February and are involved in all the "usual" races.
Our main asset is to start training soon, at the beginning of the year.
Thanks to their regular training sessions, even without knowing the Farr 30, our students are able to get good results. They even become a threat for the others including professionals.
Our steersmen are of a pretty impressive level too as they come from the National Military Sailing team. It is an interesting project to be involved in as we have the will to be well prepared and especially to work on the boat speed, which is very important. Since the beginning, we have not been under the spotlights but we keep a rather good speed."

About his role and the crew composition:
"I used to participate to the TFV as a professional. Since 1999, I have been training and managing a crew contesting for the Tour de France à la Voile for CSC - an amateur or a student crew. We won with an amateur crew and with a student crew too.
Concerning the Ecole Navale, the directors from the National Military Sailing Team are the one who decide who is in and they also manage the crew composition. For instance, someone can be a complete beginner in sailing but if he has the guts and the will, he can join. They send them to me to train them and then I give my approval, or I don't. Same process for the students from HEC: they come to the training sessions for me to see what they can do. The goal of the selection is not to fire people, but to find the right guy for the right job.
Aboard, I'm the skipper. I care mainly about the controls and the ropes - i.e. the boat speed - and I'm also the tactician."

About the student crew's specificities:
"When you're sailing with 20-25 years young and smart old guys, they understand quickly and they're flexible enough. In someway, you can teach them to sail the way you want. It's easier to coach a student crew than a professional one ! For them, if everything has been alright, no matter what the result is, they're satisfied.

Silvere Mantz, HEC student and trimmer for CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale:
"We are two guys managing the HEC sailing club this year, and we took back the partnership with Gautier and CSC that we had for years. We arrived as complete beginners and we trained with Gautier and looked for additional sponsors. Obviously, we were not at a top level at the beginning of the year, and when we joined Gautier, who is clearly at the top level, it has been a bit difficult at first, as he was really demanding. We were a bit lost at first, but very quickly we were eager to know everything. We have been arguing for a while but it was for the greater good.
Finally, it's getting better and better every day. We achieve quite good manoeuvres now and they are less yelling out.
The second year students are used to take back this sailing project every year, and that would be great if Hervé Gautier would coach us again next year."

Agathe Armand / Laura Ruaudel / Effets Mer