The two inshore races that were sailed in front of the harbour of Port-Bourgenay gave the opportunity to some of the favorites to express their ambition.
The TPM Coych boat did a poor offshore race yesterday. The boat from the Med had it wrong, choosing to sail ashore while the other favourites succed to catch a tiny nightbreeze offshore. They lost their position in the top three and furthermore could have real doubts about their ability to win the race. So they really wanted to show their opponents that they were back in the race. And so they did, leading and winning the first race, followed by Mummaduck, the dutch surprise of the week, and Nouvelle-Caledonie, the overall leader. The race was difficult for the swell was quite impressive, nearly two meters high, even though the wind was rather weak, something between 10 knots at the start to 6 knots for the last beat.
In the second race of the day, Manche-Basse Normandie did lead for all the race but the finish. Courrier Dunkerque, second overall, succeed to take the lead when it really maters… in the last beat and stay ahead until the line. Good win for the past winner who is the only boat that really put some pressure on Nouvelle-Caledonie. Well, finishing third twice in row, Bertrand Pacé succeed to add a little bit more margin to secure his first place. Good day for Ville de Geneve, finishing 4th on the two races. Along with Mummaduck, another dutch boat, TU Delft did a nice regatta, finshing fifth in the second race. With a double 8, Groovederci did not bad but not good either while Oman sail’s Renaissance, the Omani boat was not at ease with the swell, finshing tenth and seventh.
The teams must now prepare for a long distance race, once again mostly by night. Due to a bad weather forecast, the principal race officer, William Borel, decided to start the 64 nautical milles offshore race to Royan this evening instead of tomorrow morning. So there will be no rest for the crews, surely the sailors know why this race is nicknamed « marathon » !
