Danes maintain lead

Two more races for the 90 strong Dragon fleet at Grand Prix Petit Navire plus the Kitesurfing starts

With an 8 to 10 knots wind, kitesurfers had to pass the time this afternoon on the plage des Sables Blancs before eventually rushing in the water for one round around 17h00. As for the Dragon series, they raced two rounds and Jorgen Schonherr, aboard African Queen, finishes first of the main ranking before protests.

At exactly 14h00, Jorgen Schonherr, aboard the Danish African Queen, crossed the finishing line of the first round of the day, third round of the event. The Danish were in real good shape today, in actual fact there were three of them among the first five. Jensen father and son, also Danish, are sailing under Swiss and British flags. A round that was decisive as the Danish trio is also in the lead of the main ranking.

Grand Prix Petit Navire Dragon :

Round 3
1st African Queen (Jorgen Schonherr – Denmark)
2nd Sans Nom (Lars Jensen – Denmark)
3rd Danish Blue (Pol-Richard Hoj-Jensen – England)

Round 4
1st Tatsu (Cameron Good – Ireland)
2nd White Lady (Henrik Dahlman – Finland)
3rd Lumme (Patrick Salen – Sweden)

Main ranking before protests
1st African Queen (Jorgen Schonherr – Denmark)
2nd Sans Nom (Lars Jensen – Denmark)
3rd Danish Blue (Pol-Richard Hoj-Jensen – England)


Grand Prix Petit Navire Kitesurf : The more, the merrier

61 kitesurfers were waiting on the plage des Sables Blancs this morning for the Grand Prix Petit Navire kitesurf. Quite a large number considering that there was only 48 registered racers last year. Unfortunately, the weak 8 to 10 knots wind didn't allow to start the first round of kite-crossing until late in the afternoon. Among the racers, Marc Godart who was, around 10 years ago, one of first to kitesurf in France. Born in Quito, capital of Ecuador, in 1976, he discovered kitesurfing on a beach near Montpellier in 1997 and did his first trials there before becoming professional. Currently one of the fastest on the water, with a 39.64 knots personal record, he also became very good in shaping the boards. He owns his own workshop in Morocco near Moullay Bouzarqtoul. “This is a small village, north of Essaouira that has the advantage of being on the sea-side, close to a great spot where I can test my prototypes.” Working there from December to April, he goes back to the professional circuit for the rest of the year. “Anyway, as soon as the windsurf season starts, there are too many boards on the water, to ride a kiteboard safely.” Here on the Grand Prix for the past three years, he arrived second in both 2004 and 2003, and also, as he said himself, won the lottery twice. “I really appreciate this event. First because of this beautiful bay and also because of the great atmosphere. Mixing amateurs and professionals permits not to cut ourselves from the rest of the world.”

Grand Prix Petit Navire Kitesurf (before validation from members of the jury)

Men :
1st Pierre Romain
2nd Cedric le Bourgock
3rd Erwan le Mene

Women :
1st Caroline Adrien
2nd Viviane Kermoal