2003
Clairefontaine Trophy - Desjoyeaux, the new master
La
Trinité-sur-Mer, Sunday 7th of September
2003 Michel Desjoyeaux won the 14th Trophée
Clairefontaine ahead of Loïck Peyron and
Ernesto Bertarelli. It came down to the last race
as the defending champion was still leading by
one point before the gun. But in that last RUN,
Michel Desjoyeaux managed to come home in second
where Loïck Peyron, who had a 360° turn
penalty, finished in seventh.
³In
the Trophée Clairefontaine, it always comes
down to the last leg of the last race. Today the
suspense ended a little bit sooner², said
Michel Desjoyeaux.
Though
he was disappointed, Loïck Peyron was still
smiling after racing as he really enjoys this
event that he already won six times. ³It¹s
a great regatta and the top three results are
great. I wish it was the other round for first
and second place but I¹m happy Ernesto Bertarelli
finished in third place², insisted Peyron.
Indeed
Ernesto Bertarelli, who was standing in 7th place
last night, did an amazing come back. The boss
of Team Alinghi managed to snatch one victory
and finished three times in second. For his first
participation, the Swiss proved how quickly he
can learn. As he explained: ³On the first
day, I got to know the boat, on the second day
the course and today we had good starts and sailed
well. I came here to see how I would do. It¹s
fantastic to finish in the top three².
Brittan¹ys
Roland Jourdain felt quite comfortable in today¹s
light airs as he won two races and therefore managed
to climb up from sixth to fourth place overall.
Though
he won the second race of the day, Bertrand Pacé
did not sail consistently enough and finished
in 5th overall. In the first race, the match-racing
master got a penalty turn just before to cross
the finish line and as the fleet was quite packed
together he ended in the last spot.
Switzerland¹s
Laurent Bougnon suffered his lack of racing in
the last few years and got too many penalties
to manage to stay in front when he was leading.
Never mind. The former Route du Rhum winner was
happy to sail again with his friends, Stève
and Yvan Ravussin.
It
has been a bad day for Ellen MacArthur who dropped
from third to 7th overall. The talented British
skipper capsized in the 7th race and had to abandon.
After that she did not manage to perform again
to the best of her abilities.
Though
he had some good starts, Bernard Stamm suffered
his lack of multihulls experience.
Whatever
their results are, the eight sailing champions
had a great time and there was a huge crowd in
la Trinité-sur-Mer to watch them racing.
Results
:
1-Michel
Desjoyeaux (FRA) (2,5,1,1,4,3,3,4,2), 62 pts,
2- Loïck Peyron (FRA), 57 pts (1,1,2,4,7,4,4,1,7)
;
3-Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI) 51 pts (7,8,4,6,2,2,1,2,3)
;
4-Roland Jourdain (FRA), 44 pts (4,4,5,8,1,6,7,5,1)
;
5- Bertrand Pacé, 43 pts (3,6,AB,2,8,1,2,7,4);
6- Laurent Bourgnon (SUI) 36 pts (6,3,3,5,6,8,6,3,5)
;
7- Ellen MacArthur (GBR), 30 pts (5,2,7,3,3,7,AB,8,8)
;
8-Bernard Stamm (SUI), 26 pts (8,7,6,7,5,5,5,6,6).
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