TOUR DE BRETAGNE
A LA VOILE - 18-24 MAY 2003
LEG 3 : PERROS GUIREC – BREST
DISTANCE : 90 MILES
CONDITIONS : 14-25 knots W / started against the
tide / racing close to shore
IN BRIEF:
*
SKANDIA crossed the finish line of leg 3 at 1401
hrs in 23rd place - 90 miles from Perros Guirec
to Brest - 16 hours and 31 minutes of exhausting
short tacking through rocks in darkness... "You
just have to be switched on 100% - there is no
time to switch off...one person helming, and the
other looking where we are going, looking for
rocks, other competitors... You can't make a single
mistake - a few metres wrong and it could be all
over."
*
The 26-boat fleet finish within one hour of each
other - Armel Le Cleach and Nicholas Troussel
on Crealine won the leg, one minute later in second
Gildas Morvan and Bertrand Pace on Cercle Vert,
another minute Charles Caudrelier-Benac and Pascal
Bidegorry on Bostik Finley in third - enough to
keep them at the top of the leaderboard...the
depth of competition is outstanding. Davies and
Westmacott not unhappy with position against a
field of this calibre...
*
Tomorrow 0700 start of 69-mile leg 4 from Brest
to Port La Forêt...
IN DETAIL:
The
Figaro fleet started leg 3 at 2100 hrs last night
racing upwind against the tide in 25 knots, short
tacking along the coast, going as close in as
they dare: "You go until you can touch the
rocks then you tack," said Davies. "Sometimes
even going inside the rocks...it was just unbelievable.
We had breaking waves around us, no bouys or lights
and other competitors any which way you looked
- you can't make a single mistake not by a few
metres or it could all be over..."
Very
little distance separated the fleet, SKANDIA had
between 5 to 7 boats behind them, but it was not
long before the proper order was established at
the front of the 26-boat fleet with Cercle Vert,
Bostik Findley and Delta Dore taking the early
lead. In the end it was the sailing duo of Armel
Le Cleach and Nicolas Troussel on Crealine who
took their opportunity in the early hours of the
morning to steal the lead and cross the finish
line one minute ahead of Cercle Vert.
There
was some rock-hopping respite during the night
when the tide was with the fleet although the
wind had dropped: "We were trying to sail
on the wind shifts really concentrating and making
use of the shifts where we could whilst still
taking the state of the tide and the other boats
into consideration - we were doing all right,"
said Davies.
Davies
admits to making their biggest tactical error
in the early hours of the morning once they had
gone round the NW tip of the French coast: "The
wind had dropped to 14 knots and we were against
the tide again," explained Davies. "We
had to go inshore again and that is where we made
our mistake as we didn't go in far enough to get
out of the tide - we wanted to sail the shortest
distance to the bouy and thought we were laying
the mark but those that went the furthest inshore
came out best."
This
cost SKANDIA a few places and time was running
out on the final reach and spinnaker run to make
any gains. "Overall we are not disappointed
in the way we sailed," said Davies. "We
were still within reach of the fleet and we know
the mistakes we made - we had a good race and
could not have pushed much ourselves much harder
physically or mentally."
Davies
knows that ultimately it is only time on the water
that will pay: "It is still taking us too
long to get the boat up to speed after a mark
rounding," said Davies. "On average
it is taking us 10 minutes to get the set up right
but we are learning constantly. Also, you cannot
leave any tactical decision that could have been
made on the shore before you left to the last
minute because 9 times out of 10 its going to
be the wrong one. Preparation is everything -
for us, the boat, the navigation and tactically."
Before
the start of the 69-mile leg from Brest to Port
La Forêt at 0700 tomorrow morning, Davies
and Westmacott will be poring over their weather
information and deciding tactics well in advance.
RESULTS TOUR DE BRETAGNE - AFTER 3 LEGS:
Skipper
/ co-skipper / boat (L1-L2-L3=pts)
26 starters
1st
Charles CAUDRELIER-BENAC / Pascal BIDEGORRY -
BOSTIK FINDLEY (6-2-3=11)
2nd Gildas MORVAN / Bertrand PACE - CERCLE VERT
(11-1-2=14)
3rd Benoit PETIT / Tangi MAHE / DEFI SANTE VOILE
(3-6-5=14)
4th Jeremie BEYOU / Gilles CHIORRI - DELTA DORE
(4-4-7=15)
5th Erwan TABARLY / Philippe VICARIOT - THALES
(1-8-8=17)
6th Yann ELIES / Loick PEYRON - GROUPE GENERALI
ASSURANCES (5-7-6=18)
7th Eric DROUGLAZET / Hans BOUSCHOLTE - DAVID
OLIVIER (10-3-10=23)
8th Thierry CHABAGNY / Corentin DOUGUET - PETIT
NAVIRE (7-5-11=23)
9th Ronan GUERIN / Yves PAJOT - CAMUS IMMOBILIER
(2-19-4=25)
10th Bruno JOURDAIN / Jean-Marie DAURIUS - D'AUCY
(9-12-9=30)
25th Sam DAVIES / Emma WESTMACOTT - SKANDIA (21-25-23=69)
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
UKSA : The Official Watersports Training Facility
for the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.samdavies.com/uksa
