Sea, Sail & Surf newsTour de France à la Voile
Panther Team GBR eventually finished third
vendredi 5 juillet 2002 –
The international jury deliberated and decided to give Rob Greenhalgh’s crew a token 5 points penalty. Therefore, Panther Team GBR is still third in race 5, the first offshore race from Dunkerque to Cherbourg and stand in 8th position overall as it was a 3,5 coefficient race.
British navigator Mike Broughton commented on this : "They gave us the minimum penalty they could give us. We’re happy with it though it was a very unfortunate translation error in the course file on a small point of the course. It was accepted that we still sailed the proper course and the jury and race committee have been very fair about it. We accept the token 5 points penalty they gave us."
Jimmy Pahun, winner of this first offshore race onboard Région Ile de France, also had to go to the protest room as the race committee was protesting them for not having the masthead navigation light on when he crossed the finish line. Brittany’s skipper got away with a token 2 points penalty.
Jimmy Pahun has an impressive crew composed of many single-handed offshore experienced sailors such as Pascal Bidégorry, Erwan Tabarly and Nicolas Troussel. Isabelle Autissier stepped off for that race and will be back onboard tonight for the second offshore race to Paimpol.
"We do have a great team of experienced offshore sailors and I think that made the difference. For the first time in the Tour de France à la Voile, we organised a turnover in order to give a chance to people to have a rest. We swapped people at the helm and Pascal only had to worry about the navigation and the tactics", explained Jimmy Pahun on the dock after the finish.
Nantes-St-Nazaire still overall leader The finish of that first long and demanding 187-mile offshore race was very exciting. It has been a nail-biting finish with the fleet finishing in such a tight pack. The Swiss of Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention managed to pass a few boats inside the petty ground and crossed the finish line in fifth which keeps them second overall.
Overall leader Nantes-St-Nazaire of Pierre-Loïc Berthet also had a great race as they came home in second and therefore remain the overall leader. "We didn’t have a good start but managed slowly to get back into the lead. We were hoping to finish this race in the top five. Second is even better. We’re still overall leader", commented the skipper of Nantes-St-Nazaire.
Student boat Force EDC skippered by Australia’s Simon Sutherland had a very good race coming in 7th. Thanks to this good result, the team comprised of Australians, British and Dutch is now leading the student division ranking. "It was a race where boat speed really counted. You have to constantly adjust the sails", said Simon Sutherland who was sharing the driving with British Mark Reynell. "We ’re really happy with this result as it gives us confidence for the following offshore races", added British navigator Sam Stephens.
Amateur British boat Royal Thames of Owen Modral suffered from their lack of offshore experience and went down the fleet after a strong start. They finished in 22nd position and are now 6th in the amateur ranking division. "We had goods and bads. We started very well and then had a couple of mistakes on board. It didn’t go so well during the first night. It takes so much will power and experience to do well", said the skipper of Royal Thames exhausted after 31 hours sailing upwind.
Aussie Nick Moloney was also knacked after this first experience of the Tour de France à la Voile and on a Mumm 30. "It was tough. We were all soaking wet to start with but it was good racing. I didn’t helm much as I wasn’t that happy with my driving. With this fleet, you can’t afford to be slow for a while because you loose so much !", commented the Jules Verne holder.
The crews are having a well-deserved rest before tonight’s start of the`second 93-mile offshore race to Paimpol.
Isabelle Musy
classement général
1 NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE Pierre Loic BERTHET 385
2 VILLE DE GENEVE-CARREFOUR PREVENTION Etienne DAVID 361
3 MARSEILLE Dimitri DE RUELLE 353,5
4 REGION ILE DE France Jimmy PAHUN 344,5
5 FORCE EDC Simon SUTHERLAND 335
6 DIEPPE SEINE MARITIME Gildas PHILIPPE 322,5
7 CAP UNIVERSITE SAINT QUENTIN EN YVELINES Jean Marie GOUT-Olivier HONTANX 321
8 PANTHER : TEAM GBR Robert GREENHALGH 316
9 KENZO Marc THIERCELIN 310,5
10 VILLE D’ANTIBES-NEC Julien FARNARIER 309
11 VITAMINE-HYERES-COYCH Nicolas CLEMENT 305,5Dans la même rubrique
Tour de France à la Voile : Région Ile de France wins the first offshore leg
Photo : JM.Liot
Tour de France à la Voile : A long and tiring upwind race
Tour de France à la Voile : This time, they’re off ! Straight to Cherbourg
Tour de France à la Voile : Offshore start of leg 1 still delayed
