Cammas into the lead

A report from day three of the Formula 18 Worlds in Nigran, Spain

It was a slow, hot and very light start to day 3 of the F18 Class World Championships in Nigrán. A beautiful sunny day but alas the most important component was missing! As the hours passed and temperatures began to rise, a slight twitching was noticeable among the crews ashore eager to be out contending for the extremely valuable places in the gold group.

Finally at near to 2.30pm the postponement flag came down and yesterday’s ‘yellow’ group departed for race 5; a north-westerly of 6-8 knots across a clearly fluky race course saw the majority of the fleet heading off towards Baiona with clearly more pressure on the left.

A fine start for French team Vaireaux and Petit who led Dutch duo Reindert-Jan van der Meulenand Carina Knol all the way until the second upwind mark when NED 76 showed beautiful dexterity slipping in front of FRA 56510 just before rounding and skimmed down the run to victory.

An absolutely beautiful display for the crowds, as a fine streak of multi-coloured spinnakers painted a clear line up to the Parador at Monte Boi in Baiona.
Great racing also for Leo Farrow of Great Britain in third, and Andrew Machpherson of Australia in fourth.

New yellow and blue groups were assigned for the final race of this classifying round of the championship. Conditions remain light for Race 6 at 8-9 knots, a true test for some of the ‘favourites’ admittedly more comfortable racing in bigger breezes.

Hobie Cat young guns Mischa Heemskirk and Bastian Tentij have a disappointing last race; called over the line by the Race Committee at the start, drop from first to seventh place in the rankings (according to provisional results)

Race 6 proved to be contentious for the yellow group with a number of boats lodging protests with the jury and a complete reshuffle of the championship top ten.

Groupama skipper Franck Cammas and Jeremy LaGarrigue once again head the blue group for race 6, making a beautiful start at the Committee boat end along with Dutch team Coen de Koning and Jeroen van Leeuwen who skim across the fleet to place themselves centrally off the line. However it is the French multihull ace who grabs a third victory and catapults into first place overall, just a point ahead of NED 3, after they finish seventh.

The ‘golden’ 66 boats are qualified after six races (provisional results to be finalised) with some noticeable changes at the top, and all is still to be played out in the remaining two days of the competition.

A fantastic result for Australians Andrew Landenberger and Felix Egner who have moved into third place overall at 21 points, and three teams equal in fourth with 22 points each: Frenchmen Jean Christophe Mourniac and Franck Citeau, fellow countrymen Vaireaux and Petit and ‘flying Dutchmen’ Gunnar Larsen and Stefan Dubbeldam.

Top 50 results:

Pos	Sailno	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	FRA 1	Cammas Franck, France, Lagarrigue Jeremy	-11	1	4	1	3	1	10
2	NED 3	Coen de Koning, Netherlands, Jeroen van Leeuwen	1	3	1	5	1	-7	11
3	AUS 308	Andrew Landenberger, Australia, Felix Egner	4	-15	7	4	4	2	21
4	FRA 11	Jean-Christophe Mourniac, France, Franck Citeau	3	11	1	2	5	-13	22
5	FRA 56510	Vaireaux, France, Petit	8	2	2	8	2	-9	22
6	NED 955	Gunnar Larsen, Netherlands, Stefan Dubbeldam	2	4	3	-17	9	4	22
7	NED 7	Mischa Heemskerk, Netherlands, Bastiaan Tentij	1	1	15	1	6	(bfd)	24
8	GBR 957	Hugh Styles, Great Britain, Adam Piggott	-15	6	6	9	2	3	26
9	AUS 959	Andrew Macpherson, Australia, Herwin Van der Kamp	-8	8	7	6	4	6	31
10	SWE 11	Johan Gnosspelius, Sweden, Roger Boden	3	10	8	3	12	-23	36
11	FRA 919	Francois Morvan, France, Matthieu Vandame	5	11	6	-16	11	3	36
12	NED 952	Willem Geijssen, Netherlands, Rico van Capelle	-22	7	3	4	16	8	38
13	FRA 5	Sellier Thomas, France, Moreau Frederic	15	3	2	13	-22	11	44
14	NED 76	Reindert-Jan van der Meulen, Netherlands, Carina Knol	20	13	8	3	1	-22	45
15	FRA 17	Motteau Romainm, France, Alexandre Guyader	2	19	-39	12	9	4	46
16	NED 1	Mitch Booth, Netherlands, Pim Nieuwenhuis	17	16	5	2	6	(bfd)	46
17	AUS 2	Taylor Booth, Australia, Jacques Bernier	24	5	4	9	-33	5	47
18	NED 930	Sascha Larsen, Netherlands, Christa van Helden	7	6	14	10	12	-41	49
19	GBR 24	Leo Farrow, Great Britain, Robby jon Garcka	9	25	-31	11	3	8	56
20	AUS 136	Greg Goodall, Australia, Brett Goodall	4	5	19	23	-26	9	60
21	CAN 101	Louis-Philippe Éthier, Canada, Maxime Loiselle	18	4	-25	17	10	11	60
22	GER 163	Justus Wolf, Germany, Rea Nies	5	8	20	7	20	-23	60
23	FRA 44	Bontemps Gurvan, France, Marfaing Matthieu	13	2	10	11	27	-37	63
24	BEL 50	Thierry Bosser, Belgium, Alain Gramme	19	-32	18	8	5	20	70
25	FRA 4	Champanhac Benoit, France, Valer Pierre-Jean	21	17	12	14	7	-26	71
26	SWE 102	Pontus Johansson, Sweden, Daniel Winberg	6	14	-20	13	20	19	72
27	FRA 929	Le Clainche, France, Joubert	17	18	11	-21	15	16	77
28	GER 164	Helge Sch, Germany, Christian Sach	27	-31	12	7	21	12	79
29	ITA 400	Ugo Ferrari, Italy, Maurizio Stella	(dnf)	9	19	23	8	20	79
30	NED 2	Oscar Zeekant, Netherlands, Wybe Schuitema	11	9	24	6	31	-38	81
31	FRA 969	Villion, France, Viat	19	7	35	-38	16	7	84
32	BEL 30	Lefevre Joel, Belgium, Lemaire Jacques	7	(bfd)	10	25	17	33	92
33	FRA 901	Boulogne, France, Kervyn	14	20	30	14	(dnf)	15	93
34	SWE 4	Patrik Forsgren, Sweden, Niklas Nordblom	ocs	21	24	-29	27	1	93,4
35	AUS 619	Chris Caldecoat, Australia, Malcolm Richardson	6	27	32	16	-48	14	95
36	AUS 700	Warren Guinea, Australia, Mark Phillips	28	28	16	21	-34	5	98
37	GBR 888	Rob Garcka, Great Britain, Joff Garcka	14	22	33	22	7	-37	98
38	FRA 125	Pulve, France, Sangiardi	16	15	9	(dsq)	40	18	98
39	GBR 120	Tim Neal, Great Britain, Bob Fry	23	13	21	28	14	-49	99
40	NED 1004	Peter Vink, Netherlands, Marja van Helden	-28	12	15	20	25	28	100
41	BEL 44	Yannick Levévbre, Belgium, Matthieu Janssens	13	16	17	18	-40	36	100
42	ESP 7	Bernardo Benitez Cabrera, Spain, Miguel Perez Quintana	9	32	5	-43	41	16	103
43	GBR 876	Grant Piggott, Great Britain, Andy Prince	41	-45	14	12	13	24	104
44	FRA 819	Courbon, France, Morin	23	-33	27	26	23	6	105
45	NED 50	Kathelijn de Bruyne, Netherland, Bart van Rijs	12	12	23	35	23	-38	105
46	NED 201	Jacques Visser, Netherlands, Thisjs Visser	12	44	-46	19	11	21	107
47	FRA 177	Vivient, France, Le Bayon	-39	26	26	15	33	10	110
48	ITA 46	Luca Bertani, Italy, Mattia Marcassoli	27	20	21	-32	18	25	111
49	FRA 1308	Normand, France, Lemaitre	22	17	-37	33	22	19	113
50	FRA 22	Le Chapelier Emmanuel, France, Viart Jocelyn	35	29	13	-36	25	12	114