LA GENERALI MEDITERRANEE 14-28 JUNE 2003
RACE 9 : INSHORE ROUND ISLAND OF PORQUEROLLES
DISTANCE : APPROX 15 MILES
CONDITIONS : 3-8 knots for duration of 4 hour race / close tacking into shore amongst rocks

SECOND BEST RESULT FOR SKANDIA IN LIGHT AIRS RACE

IN BRIEF:

* SKANDIA score second best result today finishing in 18th place after a light airs round the island of Porquerolles: "I was in a good position after the first beat and managed to hang in there..." Davies was 5th placed rookie out on the water in today's race and holds 25th overall.

* Drama for Eric Drouglazet (David Oliver) who got stuck fast onto a rock just after the start...but still managed to finish in first place! Drouglazet immediately unfurled his red flag to protest the RIB assisting him as he did not request assistance.

* Not a good day for the top 3 leading skippers...Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) has disastrous race finishing 16th allowing Erwan Tabarly (Thales) to take overall after his 9th place today and Armel Le Cleac'h finishes in 10th but holds third place overall...

* The 32 boat fleet are now based on the island of Porquerolles...tomorrow racing will start at 11h00.

SAM ON TODAY'S RACE:

"Really light winds today...we raced round the island of Porquerolles but in different direction to last time leaving it to port.

At the start some went offshore and some went to the mainland coast but that was a disaster. Once we got close to the island we were going in as close as possible a short tacking round the lighthouse, really close in to the rocks as you dare... I caught up a few places right places being in the right place for the wind and tacking at right time. I was probably up in 18th or 20th place at this point. We then had a one tack beat, almost a fetch, on the next part. I stayed out a bit further this time and rolled past quite a few pople as there was no wind close in to shore. After the spinnaker leg we had to gybe round a bouy at other end of island to stop people going to close to rocks - think this is a bit of a notorious spot in the past for skippers wrecking their boats! I think I lost a couple of places on the final reach to the finish line just down to different winds in different places.

"I quite like the light winds and concentrating really hard on keeping the boat moving...some get really frustrated that there is no wind. You can hear them shouting and stamping on their boats in frustration!"

SAM ON MIND-SET FOR FINAL RACES:

"We now start racing at 11h00 every day to get two races in for the final three days. Thinking about it, it is like a normal regatta for some - three days, six races! We have already been racing for 11 days...a mammoth event. It's still fully intense but a lot of opportunity left to make some difference. Some may be winding down a bit, so perhaps a chance to catch some people out...

"It's going to get windy so I am just going to pretend I've arrived at a new regatta and look at it afresh not treat it as the end. You can see some skippers have a mind set that this is the closing stages...going out a bit later each day. But I still want to get out early and get the boat set up right and go for it."

PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY: VIEW FROM
Official supplier of shoreside clothing to Ellen MacArthur and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.offshorechallenges.com/viewfrom

RESULTS - RACE 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - 25 JUNE:
(Skipper/boat name/race result/overall position/total points)
NB: double points scored for offshore legs

Erwan Tabarly / THALES / 8-8-3-2-6-1-1-4-9 / 1st overall (48 points) Gildas Morvan / CERCLE VERT / 3-3-2-4-8-2-7-1-16 / 2nd overall (50 points) Armel Le Cleac'h / CREALINE / 1-1-11-6-1-4-2-5-10 / 3rd overall (56 points) Eric Drouglazet / DAVID OLIVER / 4-4-1-1-2-15-4-16-1 / 4th overall (64 points) Jérémie Beyou / DELTA DORE / 2-5-8-3-3-8-3-10-8 / 5th overall (70 points) Laurent Pellecuer / AON / 17-2-6-7-15-3-8-2-2 / 6th overall (71 points) Gilles Chiorri / METEO CONSULT GROUPE / 14-9-9-9-9-5-5-18-3 / 7th overall (95 points) Charles Caudrelier Benac / BOSTIK FINDLEY / 11-18-18-5-5-6-6-8-4 / 8th overall (104 points) Yann Elies / GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES / 5-7-22-8-4-14-10-6-12 / 9th overall (124 points) Sébastien Audigane / E LECLERC / 12-6-5-10-7-21-9-11-22 / 10th overall (129 points) Samantha Davies* / SKANDIA / 20-27-30-23-24-13-27-23-18 / 25th overall (247 points)

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

ROOKIE STANDINGS:
Franck-Yves Escoffier / CREPES WHAOU! (171 points)
Christopher Pratt / CAFE MALONGO (175 points)
Christophe Artaud / PETITS-PETONS (177 points)
Marc Emig / IN EXTREMIS (184 points)
Yves Le Blevec / REVE DE GRAND - ACTUAL INTERIM (195 points) Samantha Davies / SKANDIA (247 points) Christophe Bouvet / SOR TMC (267 points) Stéphane Sevaux / PLUS PHARMACIE (294 points) Corrado Agusta / SECTOR SPORT WATCHES (304 points) Eric Pilat / ALTAVENTURE/SNSM (305 points) Sander Bakker / STERN GROEP (321 points)

Course:
Thursday 26 June-Inshore race-Porquerolles-Start 11h00
Friday 27 June-Inshore race-Porquerolles-Start 11h00
Saturday 28 June-Inshore race-Porquerolles-Start 11h00

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