Bye bye Atlantic

The amateur Dutch boat Mummaduck did win the last regatta in the Atlantic right in front the overall leader Nouvelle-Caledonie. Now the boats are being trailed on the road to the Med.

It makes two! Second win for the Dutch boat Mummaduck skipped by Volvo specialist Laurent Pagès. Since Laurent came onboard to take over from his friend Bouwe Bekking, the amateur crew became used to play with the pros. And it is the second time they do a bullet on an inshore race. If they had clearly won the start and then lead all the way for the Lorient inshore, this win is even more convincing for they were behind the overall leader Nouvelle-Caledonie for half of the race. Mÿke Lievens, the pitman onboard Mummaduck, explained that that they did a good race because of a radical change in their strategy. Because the start was delayed after two premature starts, they decided to choose the left rather than the right on the first beat. It was the right time for the tide to change, and so the current. Good guess: they were second at the first top mark. Mummaduck is ranking 12 in the overall ranking and may hope to get to the top ten till the end of the tour.

For it is time now for a first outcome, let’s have a look at who’s in, who’s out. In for sure is the Nouvelle-Caledonie boat skippered by America’s Cup helmsman Bertrand Pacé. Number one since the start of the race but for a short time in the British channel, the boat stands firmly on the top of the race and is clearly the front runner. Maybe a seventh title for Pacé? The only boat that really is a threat is Courrier Dunkerque. The past winner of the two last editions can still make a threefold. But it will clearly depends on the wind the fleet will meet in the Med.

Little winds means few races and less opportunity to reverse the trend. Two boats are fighting hard for the third place and can still hope a better ranking in the end: Ile-de-France 2010 and TPM - COYCH. Both could claim the overall victory but lacks some consistency. TPM from the beautiful city of Hyeres should be quite at ease sailing in the Med. They even led the Tour de France à la Voile arriving in Dieppe but somehow they got it wrong. We might just say the same about Oman sails Renaissance and Groovederci. The Omani boat skippered by Rob Greenhalgh was very sharp in the first races of the year but didn’t succeed to keep on top all the way long. The performance of Groovederci is also a bit disappointing doing sometimes very good and sometimes rather average. But Deneen Demourkas is just thinking positive, she enjoys so much sailing one month around France that we may expect her US team to win some other legs before the end and to come closer to the top three. She is not so far anyway, ranking five, just a couple of points from TPM and Ile-de-France 2010.

One of the main surprise of the Atlantic part is the Dutch boat Mummaduck. How far will they go? Hard to say but they are now playing with the big fish. They will have to pass two very strong and experienced team to win the amateur category: the Swiss Ville de Genève - Carrefour Prevention and the Saint-Malo crew of Purflo – Les Thermes Marins.

Good fun too in the student class with the young team from Team SOG - Safran putting real pressure on the CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale. The Dutch student from TU Delft will have hard time trying to catch these two boats.

So it is time now to put the boat on the trailers and to drive all the way long to Port-Camargue, some 600 km from Royan. Next race Monday afternoon in the Med, be ready for the sun caps!