Sea, Sail & Surf newsTour de France à la Voile
Région Ile de France on its way for a third victory
mardi 9 juillet 2002 –
The skipper from Brittany and his all-offshore stars crew did not start the race very well. They rounded the first mar in 35th position. They had come back to 7th position by Monday night at the rounding mark Lizen Ven Ouest just off the north coast of Brittany.
This morning, Région Ile de France got into the lead as the fleet was passing a mark near the Glénans islands.
Former leading boat, Ville de Genève Carrfeour Prévention, skippered by Etienne David, was in second position followed closely by Marc Thiercelin onboard Kenzo.
"We started to sail very hard before the Four channel. We know the area very well. We beat a little bit longer than the others in order to bear away and slide down in front the fleet", explained single-hander Figaro sailor Jérémie Beyou, tactician onboard Région Ile de France.
Onboard Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, Stève Ravussin said he was surprised to see Région Ile de France ahead of them this morning : "I wonder where they’ve gone to come back. As far as we’re concerned, we sailed hard all night. It was a nice race close to the rocks. We didn’t want to take any risk tactically. We’ve been doing well from the start".
The foreign boats are doing pretty well. At the last official mark rounding, Panther Team GBR of Rob Greenhalgh was in 7th position. Student boat Force EDC skippered by Australia’s Simon Sutherland has dropped from second to eleventh position and Owen Modral’s amateur boat Royal Thames was in 14th position.
The expected wind shift occurred at about 02:00 am. It allowed the crews to hoist the spinnaker. Ever since, the boats have been running along the western coast of Brittany at an average speed of 8-9 knots.
The first boats are expected to cross the finish line off St-Nazaire at about 19:45.
There have been a few breakages during the night. Belgian boat T-Service Intérim Région Bruxelles Capitale broke two shrouds. Ville de Bandol Casino de Bandol has de-masted and Estudines.fr-Port de commerce la Rochelle broke her boom.
Therefore four boats abandoned this coefficient 3 long offshore race.
Isabelle Musy
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