TOUR DE BRETAGNE
A LA VOILE - 18-24 MAY 2003
LEG 2 : ST QUAY TO PERROS GUIREC
DISTANCE : 48 MILES
CONDITIONS : 15 knots W increasing to 39 knots
W / sea state rough / strong tidal gates
IN BRIEF:
*
Major sail problems on board SKANDIA in 30+ knots
of breeze... Davies and Westmacott go from middle
of the fleet down the pack: "It was frustrating
but perhaps not a bad thing to have a bad time
early on to stop you getting blasé..."
said Davies - cold, wet and tired after nearly
7 hours of racing. "We think some of the
other boats had a similar problem and there was
at least one retirement."
*
TOMORROW THE LONGEST LEG OF THE TOUR...LEG 3 AN
OVERNIGHT 90-MILE leg starting at 2100 hrs from
Perros Guirec to Brest... This leg takes the fleet
around the north west tip of France, and the massive
tides and seaway off of Ushant which can swallow
a Figaro up...
IN DETAIL:
Two
general recalls at the start of the second day
of racing in the Tour de Bretagne a la Voile before
the 26-boat fleet finally got away in 15 knots
of westerly breeze on the 48 mile leg from Saint-Quay
Portrieux to Perros Guirec.
Gilas
Morvan and co-skipper Bertrand Pace (Cercle Vert)
crossed the line first and held on to that position
right through to finish. Yesterday's leg winner
Erwan Tabarly (Thales) was right behind them but
lost some pace during the long race finishing
in 8th place.
The
problems for Davies and Westmacott on SKANDIA
started after the first mark: "We got a bit
buried at the start which was a shame because
we were right up there for the first two starts
- one time we were right next to Bertrand Pace,"
said Davies. "We were on a fast reach and
knew we had to change down to a smaller jib (Solent)
- we did an 'in-line' change, it was perfect,
as the rest of the fleet dropped their jibs and
then re-hoisted losing them speed so we were in
a good position mid-fleet." The breeze had
increased steadily gusting up to 28 knots when
the Solent jib ripped out of the forestay. SKANDIA
had to bear away downwind as Davies fought on
the bow to retrieve the sail but at the same time
losing valuable miles. "We couldn't believe
it," said Davies. "But we got it sorted
having lost quite a few places, rehoisted the
Solent in the 2nd forestay groove only for it
happen for a second time...we couldn't use the
sail anymore and had to go down to a storm jib."
Ultimately,
as the wind increased to 30-35 knots occasionally
gusting up to 38 knots the storm jib was the right
sail but the race was all but over for Davies
and Westmacott. "At the end we had to do
a triangle Olympic course - we went for our biggest
spinnaker and starting to catch the others who
didn't fly theirs but it was too late."
Now
Davies and Westmacott face a mountain to prepare
the boat for tomorrow's leg: "We have got
to try and work out the problems with the forestay
grooves for the jib - not sure why it is happening
- and repair the ripped jib and mainsail which
was also ripped as it flogged around in the gusts.
"It was survival mode out there but we survived
and its good to have a bashing early on - from
now it can only get better!"
JARGON
BUSTER : THE HEADSTAY FOIL – the front sails,
jib (Solent) and genoa (bigger version) have a
'bolt rope' along their leading edge (the luff),
and when hoisting the sail this bolt rope slides
up the 'foil' which holds the full length of the
sail to the forestay. The foil has an opening
at the bottom that is wider to allow the luff
rope to slide up - but once in the foil, in theory
no amount of load in the sail should pull it out
due to the very narrow exit of the foil...
RESULTS TOUR DE BRETAGNE - LEG 2 ST QUAY PORTRIEUX
TO PERROS GUIREC:
Skipper
/ co-skipper / boat
26 starters
1st
Gildas MORVAN / Bertrand PACE - CERCLE VERT
2nd Charles CAUDRELIER-BENAC / Pascal BIDEGORRY
- BOSTIK FINDLEY 3rd Eric DROUGLAZET / Hans BOUSCHOLTE
- DAVID OLIVIER 4th Jeremie BEYOU / Gilles CHIORRI
- DELTA DORE 5th Thierry CHABAGNY / Corentin DOUGUET
- PETIT NAVIRE 6th Benoit PETIT / Tangi MAHE /
DEFE SANTE VOILE 7th Yann ELIES / Loick PEYRON
- GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES 8th Erwan TABARLY
/ Philippe VICARIOT - THALES 9th Damien GRIMONT
/ Dominique VITTET / SOLETEANCHE BACHY 10th Armel
LE CLEACH / Nicolas TROUSSEL / CREALINE 25th Sam
DAVIES / Emma WESTMACOTT - SKANDIA DNF Pascal
DESMARETS / David ROSS - TETRAKTYS
See full race results at http://www.tourdebretagnealavoile.com
Sunday
18 May, Saint-Malo to Saint-Quay Portrieux
Monday 19 May, Saint-Quay Portrieux to Perros
Guirec
Tuesday 20 May to Wednesday 21 May, Perros Guirec
– Brest Thursday 22 May, Brest – Port
La Forêt Friday 23 May, Port La Forêt
– Lorient Saturday 24 May, Lorient, parcours
« banane » et côtier
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