Sailors need to be patient when it comes to the Mediterranean Sea! This racing day in Saint-Cyprien began with a forced nap under the palm trees: the wind was too light for the race comity to ask the fleet to leave the pier. At 1.00 pm, a solar wind allowed the crews to sail two legs in a seven to eight knots southeastern wind. It was just a starter compared to the breeze, which rose up to 27 knots for the third leg. A first sign of the "Tramontane" storm, this North local wind, announced for tomorrow in Port-Barcarès. A wide range of conditions for Courrier Dunkerque and TPM - COYCH to fight against each other. First and second of the overall ranking, they contested for the three inshore races of the day. TPM - COYCH won the first and last legs while Courrier Dunkerque was second. The 2008 winner won the second leg, followed by Fabien Henry's team. A true match-racing session, which is the speciality of the two steersmen, Sébastien Col (TPM - COYCH) and Pierre-Antoine Morvan (Courrier Dunkerque).
Not only this battle was awesome but some more crews did very well today. Côtes d'Armor, steered by Stéphane Letertre, finished 3rd and 5th. The Normal Sup - Lagardère students, who take part for the first time to the TFV, proved how good they can be with a 5th and a 10th places.
After such a clash, the overall podium is only reinforced. Courrier Dunkerque is leading the Honda overall ranking, followed by TPM - COYCH. The Hyères crew is 15 points ahead Nouvelle Calédonie. Purflo - Les Thermes Marins - Saint-Malo (6th overall, four points behind Elcimaï - Ville de Marseille) can keep the Malongo spinnaker, which belongs to the amateur leader. There is no spinnaker exchange on the student side neither, since CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (9th overall) is still leading the CSC ranking.
The Saint-Cyprien stopover comes to an end tonight. The crews leave for Port-Barcarès at 7.00 pm, sailing 13 miles with the engine on.

Report of the first leg 11.1:
The first leg of the day starts at 1.13 pm. The two turns triangle is moored at 1,3 miles in the 115° - it will then be moved to the 105°. The fleet takes a nice start all over the line. TPM - COYCH crosses it next to the buoy and immediately leads. The Farr 30 steered by Sébastien Col carefully controls Courrier Dunkerque and crosses the finish line one length ahead the North team. Elcimaï - Ville de Marseille finishes third. Maxime Dolet, trimmer aboard Nantes Saint-Nazaire - Centrale Nantes, hurts his ankle and is replaced after the leg.

Results: 1 - TPM - COYCH ; 2 - Courrier Dunkerque ; 3 - Elcimaï - Ville de Marseille ; 4 - Manche - Basse Normandie ; 5 - Brest Grandes Ecoles

Report of the second leg 11.2:
At 2.40 pm, a triangle moored in the 105° and 1,5 miles long starts. False start: the sailing boats start again at 2.48 pm with a black flag. Courrier Dunkerque is already first at the first leeward buoy, followed by Côtes d'Armor and Val Thorens. TPM - COYCH steals their places and finishes second behind Daniel Souben's team. Côtes d'Armor is third.

Results : 1 - Courrier Dunkerque ; 2 - TPM - COYCH ; 3 - Côtes d'Armor ; 4 - Nouvelle Calédonie ; 5 - Normale Sup - Lagardère

Report of the third leg 11.3:
Breeze and waves appears for this last leg. The last race of the day is moored at 1,5 miles in the 100° before to be moved to the 120°. The wind is blowing between 15 and 20 knots, with gusts at 27 knots. The student team of Nantes Saint-Nazaire - Centrale Nantes, who broke the mainsail sheet, still takes the start. T. Brussels is forced to give up the leg because of a broken spinnaker pole. Côtes d'Armor leads for a while before to be passed by TPM - COYCH, Courrier Dunkerque and Nouvelle Calédonie. The three overall leaders take the first, second and third places.

Results: 1 - TPM - COYCH ; 2 - Courrier Dunkerque ; 3 - Nouvelle Calédonie ; 4 - Val Thorens ; 5 - Côtes d'Armor

Sébastien Col's interview, steersman of TPM - COYCH:

A very good day for TPM - COYCH. How is the atmosphere on board?
"The atmosphere is always nice on TPM - COYCH, it's always a pleasure to meet them on the TFV. When results are good, the pleasure is twice as great!"

What made the difference today?
"Adaptation. The conditions really evolved all day long. At the beginning, we had no waves at all before to have 20 to 25 knots of wind on a rough sea. We wondered about the sails and the trims between the legs. The tactician Erwan Israël did such a nice job, he really felt the wind. We also took nice starts and it allowed us to work on the strategy."

Did your fight with Courrier Dunkerque turn into match race in the breeze?
"Yes! Especially the last leg. We had the same objective since the start: to sail to the left. They passed us at the end of the first upwind leg and we put all our energy to pass them again during the first downwind leg. We had to control them until the end and we really sail as we do for match race so as to leave the fleet behind. Match race in Farr 30 in 20 to 25 knots of wind during the TFV is amazing! We shall sleep well tonight."

Eric Brezellec's interview, skipper of Normal Sup - Lagardère (first participation to the TFV)

Today, you finish 5th, 10th and 14th of the three legs. It looks like a good result?
"Yes, even though we made a little jump during the last leg, which costs us four places. But it is a new project on the TFV with a team who never sailed in such conditions. It's a discovery and we are improving all along the race. The crew is young and the goal is to sail well and to have fun. We manage to do so and we are really racing, sometimes with the best ones.
It isn't my first TFV but it is for the team. I think they are a good year. I'm happy to be with them. We take the legs one after the other and we do not worry about the ranking, we will sum it up at the end."

Agathe Armand / Effets Mer