Emphatic win for Cammas

After day one's coastal race at the ORMA trimaran's Corsica Grand Prix

A gale to the south of the island caused the Race Committee of the ORMA Grand Prix in Corsica to abandon today's offshore overnight race in favour of a 55 mile coastal race starting from Calvi and heading north east along the north coast of Corsica, before rounding the Mortella buoy in the Gulf of St Florent before returning to the start.

During the race, the boats experienced a range of weak to medium wind conditions and in this Groupama 2 once again proved to be the weapon to beat. This is not simply due to her being new boat, but due to excellent crew work. Cammas was the only skipper in this race to hit the line at speed - the rest one or two boat lengths behind.

On board the team performed like a well oiled machine, were first to pick up the wind shift on the first leg and once ahead they were able to control the fleet. At the first mark - the Revellata buoy - Groupama led by just over one minute from Karine Fauconnier and her team on Sergio Tacchini, followed 10 seconds later by Fred le Peutrec's Gitana II.

The wind had built to 12 knots on this first leg but had dropped again by the first mark mark rounding, and the lighter conditions that seemed to again favour Groupama 2 who was able to extend her lead further.

At the mark rounding Sergio Tacchini had a port-starboard incident with Alain Gautier's Foncia - the subject of a protest tonight. Otherwise the mark was congested with six boats rounding at the same time.

At the second mark, the Spana buoy, Geant had risen to second place, overtaking Sergio Tacchini and Gitana II but still 2 minutes and 30 second astern of Cammas' green trimaran.

Rounding St Florent before the return leg back down the coast however Geant had been knocked back down to seventh place with Gitana II and Giovanni Soldini's Italian team on TIM moving up to take second and third place respectively. However at the finish line back in Calvi 24 miles away it was Thomas Coville's Sodebo that seemed to be making the best of the 12 knot upwind conditions to take second place behind Groupama, who had pulled out a massive lead of almost 11 minutes by the finish.

Finish times:

1-Groupama 2 (in 4h 02m 06s)
2-Sodebo (+ 10’57)
3-Sergio Tacchini (+11’55)
4-Foncia (+16’19)
5-Gitana 11 (+18’21)
6-TIM-Projetto Italia (+22’31)
7-Géant (Michel Desjoyeaux)
8-Banque Covefi (+27’10)
9-Banque Populaire (+33’04)
10-Sopra Group (34’45)

Results after day one:

1-Groupama 2 (Franck Cammas) 1 point
2-Sodebo (Thomas Coville) 2 points
3-Sergio Tacchini (Karine Fauconnier) 3 points
4-Foncia (Alain Gautier) 4 points
5-Gitana 11 (Fred Le Peutrec) 5 points
6-TIM-Projetto Italia (Giovanni Soldini) 6 points
7-Géant (Michel Desjoyeaux) 7 points
8-Banque Covefi (Stève Ravussin) 8 points
9-Banque Populaire (Pascal Bidégorry) 9 points
10-Sopra Group (Philippe Monnet) 10 points