LA GENERALI MEDITERRANEE 14-28 JUNE 2003
RACE 12 : INSHORE RACE
DISTANCE : APPROX 17 MILES
CONDITIONS : 18 knots gradiant E / seabreeze fills in later in day forcing 180 degree wind shift

JUBILANT DAVIES AS SKANDIA CLIMBS ONE PLACE OVERALL

IN BRIEF:

* Climbing one place in the leaderboard may not sound like much...but in this highly competitive Figaro fleet it is a huge step. "Yesterday I said I wanted to climb one or two places if I could...well, I have and there is still one more day of racing to go!"

* SKANDIA finished in 17th place in the penultimate day's racing today, two places higher than skipper Marc Thiercelin (Thiercelin finished 2nd in the 1996/97 Vendée Globe non-stop round the world race and fourth in the last edition) and now Davies sits in 24th place overall just behind the experienced solo sailor.

* Race committee had to abandon second race as sea breeze disappeared early evening. Now only one day of racing remaining for the skippers to make their final moves...

* Leading Rookie 22 year old, Christopher Pratt, makes costly mistake today racing close into the shore and losing the wind entirely...forced to use his engine to avoid being washed on to the rocks, he now drops to fourth placed Rookie. Franck-Yves Escoffier (winner of the Class 2 multihull division in the 2002 Route du Rhum) now leads the 11 Rookies.

* Yann Elies (Groupe Generali Assurances) sneaks a win in today's race... A battle to the end for Gildas Morvan and Erwan Tabarly who finished second and third respecitvely holding their places at the top of the leaderboard going into the final day of racing and practically clear of Jérémie Beyou and Armel Le Cleac'h in third and fourth...

* Tomorrow the race organisers will be hoping to stage two races on the final day. A stronger sea breeze is forecast for tomorrow and Davies predicts that they will attempt to run two windward/leeward courses starting at 11h00...

SAM ON TODAY'S RACE:

"We waited over an hour for the sea breeze to come in but there was a really strong gradiant breeze from the opposite direction so eventually they sent us off on a coastal race in about 18 knots of easterly breeze. In effect, it was exactly the same course as yesterday but in a different direction...a figure of eight round Porquerolles and the smaller island.

"Today's race was all about being in the right place for when the sea breeze finally won the battle over the gradiant breeze which it did and so we had a 180 degree wind shift! I knew it was going to happen so got myself in a good position by staying offshore because you could see there was going to be no breeze inshore. Christopher Pratt really lost out going in and had to use his engine to stop himself being washed on to the rocks.

"Sometimes not being in the lead has its advantages! You could see how the wind shift was affecting the leaders so then I could work what was going to happen and position myself better - I must have got passed about 5 boats after the wind shift.

"I was right next to Jeanne Gregoire and we both went in the same direction...doing the same thing which gives you confidence and I managed to get past her by doing a better spinnaker hoist. Then she sat on my tail for the rest of the race as we picked our way up the rankings...hunting in pairs!

"I will approach the racing tomorrow as I did today...it's a new race, don't switch off, go out it and race the best you can..."

PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY: TBS
Official footwear supplier to Ellen MacArthur and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.offshorechallenges.com/tbs

RESULTS - RACE 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12 - 27 JUNE: (Skipper/boat name/race result/overall position/total points)
NB: double points scored for offshore legs

Gildas Morvan / CERCLE VERT / 3-3-2-4-8-2-7-1-16-1-1-2 / 1st overall (54 points) Erwan Tabarly / THALES / 8-8-3-2-6-1-1-4-9-4-3-3 / 2nd overall (58 points) Jérémie Beyou / DELTA DORE / 2-5-8-3-3-8-3-10-8-2-5-6 / 3rd overall (83 points) Armel Le Cleac'h / CREALINE / 1-1-11-6-1-4-2-5-10-15-4-11 / 4th overall (86 points) Laurent Pellecuer / AON / 17-2-6-7-15-3-8-2-2-10-9-4 / 5th overall (94 points) Eric Drouglazet / DAVID OLIVER / 4-4-1-1-2-15-4-16-1-3-dnf-7 / 6th overall (107 points) Gilles Chiorri / METEO CONSULT GROUPE / 14-9-9-9-9-5-5-18-3-6-11-5 / 7th overall (117 points) Yann Elies / GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES / 5-7-22-8-4-14-10-6-12-5-2-1 / 8th overall (132 points) Charles Caudrelier Benac / BOSTIK FINDLEY / 11-18-18-5-5-6-6-8-4-7-13-10 / 9th overall (134 points) Gwenael Riou / ESPOIR CEDIT AGRICOLE / 9-12-4-16-10-19-19-9-19-9-6-16 / 10th overall (175 points) Samantha Davies* / SKANDIA / 20-27-30-23-24-13-27-23-18-19-20-17 / 24th overall (303 points)

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

ROOKIE STANDINGS:
Franck-Yves Escoffier / CREPES WHAOU! (217 points)
Christophe Artaud / PETITS-PETONS (232 points)
Marc Emig / IN EXTREMIS (236 points)
Christopher Pratt / CAFE MALONGO (240 points)
Yves Le Blevec / REVE DE GRAND - ACTUAL INTERIM (246 points) Samantha Davies / SKANDIA (303 points) Christophe Bouvet / SOR TMC (342 points) Stéphane Sevaux / PLUS PHARMACIE (371 points) Corrado Agusta / SECTOR SPORT WATCHES (383 points) Eric Pilat / ALTAVENTURE/SNSM (391 points) Sander Bakker / STERN GROEP (405 points)

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

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