Region Ile de France's day at the races

Big breeze final races causes broken boats for Tour Voile in St Cyprien

With inshore races continuing off St Cyprien, the first race today was held in a very light easterly breeze, but by the time of the third the wind had built to a solid 25 knots causing a fair amount of damage including a dismasting and the loss of a keel.

Region Ile de France was the big winner today, taking two victories and a third place. "We sailed cleanly without taking any risks, taking the right side a bit like Groovederci and it certainly seems to work. We also changed some of the trimming upwind and Jimmy Pahun and Nicolas (Pauchet) did a great job on the helm and mainsail. We were going really fast."

Bouygues Telecom meanwhile took two second places despite a small error in the second race. "It’s got us back in the match. We needed it. We didn’t change anything special but we stopped sailing badly," said a relaxed Pierre-Loïc Berthet.

Defi Partage Marseille, though still ahead overall this morning’s ranking, have made very poor progress over the last couple of days and have now dropped below Bouygues Telecom overall as a result.

Though still overall leader of the ranking, Groovederci had a worse day putting in a 12th place and two thirds. "In sports terms it wasn’t too bad a day. We can’t win every day, but it was a stupid error to be quickly forgotten," said Laurent Pagès after they were penalised for failing to display their start flag in the first regatta of the day. It is an error that has pushed Bouygues Telecom to within 30 points of the leaders.

Only Toulon Provence Mediterranee Coych saved the pride of the Mediterranean competitors finished well in all three races including victory in the first. Cotes D’Armor also remained at the front of the fleet throughout the day.

In the youth section, the young crew on Eigsi La Rochelle Charente-Maritime have taken the decision to continue to race as soon as their new mast arrives and is rigged, but they will not be ready for the next leg which heads off towards Gruissan tomorrow.

As the wind built in the final race there were numerous retirements, boats suffering technical problems. Worst affected was Brest Grandes Ecoles Ensiete Enst-Bretagne, who had the disagreeable surprise of losing their keel bulb. Bitterly their Tour de France à la Voile ends here, as repairs cannot be made to the boats in such a short space of time.

Tomorrow, the remaining crews will set off from St Cyprien at 0900 GMT towards the neighbouring port of Gruissan, 35 miles away. With a fairly strong north-westerly forecast, the leg promises to be a sprint.

Overall results:

Pos	Boat	Pnts
1	GROOVEDERCI	886,5
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	833
3	DEFI PARTAGE MARSEILLE	831,5
4	REGION ILE DE France	819,5
5	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCH	809,5
6	THEOULE MANDELIEU	803
7	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	746,5
8	DIEPPE SEINE MARITIME	715,5
9	COTES D'ARMOR	708
10	CSC ESSEC	689,5
11	VILLE DU PORT BRED ILE DE LA REUNION	613
12	BELVEDERE FORCE EDC LES COPAINS A BORD	605,5
13	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	588,5
14	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE ESTUDINES.COM	545,5
15	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	538,5
16	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	527,5
17	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST BRETAGNE	520
18	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	514,5
19	PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN	502,5
20	DEFI DON DU SANG ALLIBERT- HEC-ESC GRENOBLE-X	496,5
21	DOUARNENEZ VOILE MAGAZINE	496
22	NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE	488
23	ALFA LAVAL	463
24	BIENNE VOILE	442
25	TEPACAP	428,5
26	DEFI JEAN BART	377,5
27	DELFT CHALLENGE	375,5
28	MARSEILLE UNIVERSITES VILLE DE BANDOL	366
29	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES CAPITAL	353
30	EIGSI CHARENTE MARITIME	345,5