TOUR
DE BRETAGNE A LA VOILE - 18-24 MAY 2003
LEG 5 : PORT LE FORET - LORIENT
DISTANCE : 38 MILES
CONDITIONS : 12-18 knots SW / start time 1101
hrs
IN BRIEF:
*
SKANDIA FINISH IN 12TH PLACE of final offshore
race of Tour de Bretagne...best result in series
: "We had the most perfect first upwind leg
and were inside the top 10 for most of the race
- it is just the best way to finish the final
offshore race after 280 tough miles racing round
the Brittany coastline..." said Davies.
*
The 12th place today moves SKANDIA into 20th place
overall: "This is about a long-term investment,"
said Davies: "You have just got to keep learning
and it's going to take more than one season to
learn to race against these guys. Typically it
takes some of the very top Figaro sailors two
or three seasons to get to the top of this fleet.
We are really pleased with the progress we have
made this week."
*
Cercle Vert (Morvan/Pacé) score third win
of the series to give them a 4-point cushion at
the top of the leaderboard ahead of Bostik Findley.
*
TOMORROW FINAL STAGE OF TOUR...two inshore windward-leeward
races at Lorient.
IN DETAIL:
It
was the morale boost Sam Davies and Emma Westmacott
needed after six days of intense racing in the
hotly contested Figaro Tour de Bretagne a la Voile
event...a 12th place in the final offshore race.
The sailing duo knew the event would be a baptism
of fire and it was: "The pace has been relentless
but we were never disappointed with where we were
finishing because we knew it would be like this,"
said Davies. "But to finsih 12th out of 26
of some of the best solo sailors in the world
is a great feeling."
The
first start was a general recall and SKANDIA had
been well placed at the favoured end of the line
with space around them and good boat speed. At
the re-start most of the skippers had sussed the
right end of the line so things were more crowded
second time round for SKANDIA. Davies and Westmacott
thought there was more wind on the right and tacked
off - it proved to be the right decision: "We
saw the wind shift and went for it," said
Davies. "After that every time we tacked
the wind shifted with us - it just got better
and better. We had great boat speed and reached
the first mark in 8th place just behind Loick
Peyron on Generali Assurances." Figaro style
the top 10 boats were just metres apart and there
were no changes on the next reaching leg. "On
the third leg it was a spinnaker reach,"
said Davies, "SKANDIA just took off and we
got past two boats including Generali Assurances
and Crealine but at the gybe mark, we had a bad
gybe that lost us a few places."
On
the final spinnaker run SKANDIA were in 11th place
but could not get in the right position to defend
against Thierry Chabagny and Corentin Douguet
on Petit Navire. But the gybing duel continued
right to the line with the French boat just sneaking
a boat length ahead on the final gybe.
"Overall
we were much better prepared today," said
Davies. "We were out on the water earlier,
had the boat set up how we wanted it and our minds
were into the race 100% well before the start.
The boat speed was good all day and we never strugled
to keep up with anyone."
Tomorrow
SKANDIA will race two inshore windward/leeward
races and Davies and Westmacott will not be easing
off: "Once you do better, you want to keep
on doing better," said Davies. "Today
has been a huge boost to our confidence."
RESULTS TOUR DE BRETAGNE - AFTER 5 LEGS:
Skipper
/ co-skipper / boat (L1-L2-L3-L4-L5=pts)
26 starters
1st
Gildas MORVAN / Bertrand PACE - CERCLE VERT (11-1-2-1-1=16)
2nd Charles CAUDRELIER-BENAC / Pascal BIDEGORRY
- BOSTIK FINDLEY (6-2-3-4-5=20) 3rd Jeremie BEYOU
/ Gilles CHIORRI - DELTA DORE (4-4-7-6-2=23) 4th
Benoit PETIT / Tangi MAHE / DEFI SANTE VOILE (3-6-5-7-4=25)
5th Erwan TABARLY / Philippe VICARIOT - THALES
(1-8-8-3-10=30) 6th Eric DROUGLAZET / Hans BOUSCHOLTE
- DAVID OLIVIER (10-3-10-2-8=33) 7th Yann ELIES
/ Loick PEYRON - GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES (5-7-6-10-6=34)
8th Thierry CHABAGNY / Corentin DOUGUET - PETIT
NAVIRE (7-5-11-5-11=39) 9th Armel LE CLEAC'H /
Nicolas TROUSSEL - CREALINE (16-10-1-8-7=42) 10th
Bruno JOURDREN / Jean-Marie DAURIS - D'AUCY (9-12-9-11-9=50)
20th Sam DAVIES / Emma WESTMACOTT - SKANDIA (21-25-23-22-12=103)
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
OFFSHORE CHALLENGES SAILING TEAM - PEFORMANCE
PARTNER OF THE DAY: View From : Official on-shore
clothing supplier to the Offshore Challenges Sailing
Team providing the latest View From sportswear
and outdoor range from Marks and Spencers. http://www.samdavies.com/viewfrom
