LA GENERALI MEDITERRANEE 14-28 JUNE 2003
RACE 1+2 : INSHORE RACES - MARSEILLE
DISTANCE : APPROX 8 MILES PER RACE
CONDITIONS : 12 knots building to 18 knots SSW / sea conditions flat / start time approx 12h00

GENERALI : SKANDIA PASSES FIRST SOLO TEST BUT MISTAKES PROVE COSTLY...

IN BRIEF:

* SKANDIA scores a 20th and 27th place in the opening day of La Generali Méditerranée putting Davies in 23rd place overall after the first inshore races off Marseille today.

* Armel Le Cleach'h on Crealine dominated the 32 boat fleet posting a first in both races whilst two 3rd places from Gildas Morvan racing Cercle Vert puts him in 2nd place overall... Last year's champion Jérémie Beyou holds 3rd place overall after a 2nd and a 5th place...

* Tomorrow the first offshore race...a 115 nautical mile race overnight from Marseille heading west to Port Carmargue. It will be a long, hard night...Sam will get no sleep as she pushes to get every knot of speed out of SKANDIA during darkness.

IN DETAIL:

Two inshore races were held today in the opening round of La Generali Méditerranée in Marseille. There was a short delay in the start of the windward/leeward courses as the race committee waited for the sea breeze to build but the 32 Bénéteau Figaro one-design boats finally got away a little after midday in a building breeze from SSW.

For Sam Davies on SKANDIA it was to be her first big solo test against this highly competitive fleet. A 20th place in the race one but a disappointing 27th in the second race puts her 23rd overall: "It was hard, hard work," said Davies. "I feel I'm in the ball park but just have to avoid making the big mistakes."

Armel Le Cleac'h (Crealine) had the best opening day scoring two first places whilst last year's champion Jérémie Beyou put in a 3rd and 5th to hold 3rd place overall behind Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert). With very little between the top boats it comes down to a combination of expert boat handling and spot-on tactics to get the advantage.

SKANDIA started with the back-pack in race one, fighting dirty air on the first upwind leg but managed to make up a few places on the downwind leg capitalising on other competitors errors: "Any mistake, like a bad hoist or sailing to high can give you an advantage," said Davies. "At the bottom mark, I gybed nice and early to get on the inside of the fleet ahead and took down the spinnaker earlier as well, so I was ready and well prepared to tack off at the mark."

In the second race the wind had increased to 18 knots but two mistakes proved costly for Davies: "Because I had a bad start and was further back than in the first race, I tried something different," said Davies. "I tacked away to the right of the course when it was obvious the left was paying, but I wanted to try and get some clear air and space." It proved to be the wrong decision costing SKANDIA crucial places. Another error on the final downlind leg put any hope of bettering her 20th place in first race out of the window: "I wasn't hearing the race committee on the VHF that clearly and thought they were going to finish us on the next upwind leg," said Davies. "So I went down below to flick the swich for the ballast tanks but managed to hit the wrong switch disabling the auto-pilot! I went out of control for a while but managed not to crash gybe - the main problem was I had to reset the autopilot but we were full-on downwind in 18 knots so it wasn't easy to leave the tiller and get down below!"

Tomorrow will see the 32-boat fleet leave Marseille at 11h00 (local time) for the first offshore race - a 115 miles westward to Port Camargue. Current forecast is for 15 knots from a westerly direction. "The wind can sometimes fade away overnight in the Med," said Davies. "But there will be no time to sleep at all - even just heating up some water to prepare a freeze-dried meal is questionable - I will probably survive on energy bars."

RESULTS - RACE 1/RACE 2 - 14 JUNE:
(Skipper/boat name/race result/total points/overall position)

Armel Le Cleac'h / CREALINE / 1-1 / 1st overall (2 points) Gildas Morvan / CERCLE VERT / 3-3 / 2nd overall (6 points) Jérémie Beyou / DELTA DORE / 2-5 / 3rd overall (7 points) Eric Drouglazet / DAVID OLIVER / 4-4 / 4th overall (8 points) Yann Elies / GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES / 5-7 / 5th overall (12 points) Erwan Tabarly / THALES / 8-8 / 6th overall (16 points) Sébastien Audigane / E LECLERC / 12-6 / 7th overall (18 points) Laurent Pellecuer / AON / 17-2 / 8th overall (19 points) Franck-Yves Escoffier* / CREPES WHAOU! / 7-13 / joint 9th overall (20 points) Christopher Pratt* / CAFE MALONGO / 6-14 / joint 9th overall (20 points) Samantha Davies * / SKANDIA / 20-27 / 23rd overall (47 points)

* Newcomer to event or in French "Bizuth" ie rookie

For further information on La Générali Médierranée please visit http://www.generalimed.com

Course:
Friday 13 June-Prologue-Marseilles-Afternoon
Saturday 14 June-Inshore race 1-Marseilles-Start 11h00
Sunday 15 June-Offshore leg 1-Marseilles-Port-Camargue-Start 11h00 Monday 16 June-Offshore leg 1-Arrive Port-Camargue Tuesday 17 June-Inshore race 2-Port-Camargue-Start 11h00 Wednesday 18 June-Offshore leg 2-Port-Camargue-Beaulieu-Start 11h00 Thursday 19 June-Offshore leg 2-Arrive Beaulieu Friday 20 June-Lay day Saturday 21 June-Offshore leg 3-Beaulieu-Impéria-Start 11h00 Sunday 22 June-Offshore leg 4-Impéria-Hyeres-Start 11h00 Monday 23 June-Offshore leg 4-Arrive Hyeres Tuesday 24 June-Offshore leg 5-Hyeres-Porquerolles-Start 11h00 Wednesday 25 June-Lay day Thursday 26 June-Inshore race 3-Porquerolles-Start 11h00 Friday 27 June-Inshore race 4-Porquerolles-Start 11h00 Saturday 28 June-Inshore race 5-Porquerolles-Start 11h00

For further information on La Générali Médierranée please visit http://www.generalimed.com