10 days on the Tour Voile

Duncan McDonald was one of the non-students sailing with the British team

Duncan McDonald has just returned from the Tour Voile having spent 10 days sailing with the British Student Sailing Team, skippered by Simon Shaw. McDonald has always had a passion for this race around the French coast. He competed in it last year on Tony Buckinghams Easy Oars which finished in third place. This year his role on board was different. He was approached by Ian Williams and asked to sail on the first ever British student entry to the Tour.

Although a talented crew none of the sailors had any offshore experience before the start of the event. The rules permit that each student boat is allowed two non-students on board; McDonald trimmed the main and did tactics, while Mike Broughton came aboard as navigator.

The Tour comprises 34 races spread over a month and includes a combination of both in- and offshore racing. The British students aim is to finish inside the top 10 and to win the student division. McDonald commented: "I joined the team on the proviso that we could compete in the French Nationals as a warm-up event. My job was to tune up the boat and get everything working as efficiently as possible before the Tour started."

McDonald, brother of the infamous Neal, explained that the main problems the team have had so far have been with inconsistencies: "We started with a couple of inshore races where we came second in the first race and then mid-20s in the second. We seemed to have that pattern all the way through - a really good result, then a calamity would happen and we'd have a bad result."

Those calamities included hitting a rock on an offshore race and severely damaging the keel and rudder. In another offshore race they couldn't close the propeller for the whole race and consequently lost speed. McDonald feels the reasons for these hiccups are due to a lack of practice and time on the water with the boat: "They are up against people who have been sailing these boats for years, and who probably have a number of Tour Voiles under their belt. If they are able to iron out the calamities, then they should be more than capable of achieving their goal," he said.

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