Big winds and devastation in Fecamps

First blood for Sergio Tacchini as Gitana X pitchpoles

The annual ORMA 60 Grand Prix is renowned for taking its toll on the Grand Prix multihull and today, the first day of the 2004 event, proved that racing off this north France port (between Le Havre and Dieppe) has lost none of its bit.

Only one race was held in a lumpy left-off swell with the breeze increasing during the course of it. While Karine Fauconnier and her Quebec-St Malo winning team on board Sergio Tacchini proved that they are the boat of the moment, by winning this race. However within seconds of them crossing the line attention turned to Marc Guillemot's Gitana X which was in the process of pitchpoling a few hundred behind on the final run.

The incident occured as Gitana X was sailing at around 32 knots in about the same amount of wind. During a gybe the bows of the trimaran dug in at the same time as gust hit the boat, crewman Yvon Daniel told thedailysail. As the photo above shows the trimaran for around 30 second stayed semi-inverted prevented from a full capsize by her mast. Crew meanwhile were dropping into the water, although some stayed clinging to the netting as they were suspended high above the water. Daniel one of the latter damaged his hand in the process. One crewman was caught beneath the netting but he was shown the way out and was recovered. Aside from a minor injury to Daniel's hand there were no casualties. "This is the first time this has happened to me and I hope it never happens again," said Daniel.

Aside from Gitana X, Yves Parlier's radical catamaran Médiatis Région Aquitaine was forced to retire when during a gybe the battens broke in one of her mainsail. This was followed by the mainsail ripping. Last at every mark on this race, the boat has still to show a proper turn of speed and it is likely that she will not compete in the two remaining Grand Prix this year, inside reverting to their program of record breaking. Meanwhile Parlier will not be racing tomorrow while he waits for his mainsail to be repaired in time for Sunday's final races.

In 25-30 knots winds from the southwest the eleven boats taking part were sailing with one reef in their mainsail and staysail upwind and their medium gennikers downwind. The Gitanas X and 11 got the best starts alongside Sergio Tacchini and Alain Gautier's Foncia, the rest of the boats playing it safe in the lively conditions.

It was this foursome that made it to the top mark first, Karine Fauconnier's trimaran leading by 41 seconds over Foncia with Gitana 11 soon after. The Transat winner, Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant never recovered from her slow start, while Thomas Coville's Sodebo, fifth at the top mark had a problem with genniker furler and dropped to eighth.

While Foncia dropped back over the course of the race, Franck Cammas' new Groupama pulled up to third place following Gitana X's capsize, an exceptional result for her first ever race.

Results - race 1

1- Sergio Tacchini (Karine Fauconnier) : 1 point
2- Gitana 11(Fred Le Peutrec) : 2 pts
3- Groupama 2 (Franck Cammas) : 3pts
4- Foncia (Alain Gautier) : 4 pts
5- Banque Populaire (Lalou Roucayrol) : 5 pts
6- Banque Covefi (Stève Ravussin) : 6 pts
7- Géant (Michel Desjoyeaux) : 7 pts
8- Sodebo (Thomas Coville) : 8 pts
9- Sopra Group (Philippe Monnet) : 9 pts
DNF Mediatis Région Aquitaine (Yves Parlier) : 12 pts
DNF Gitana X (Marc Guillemot) : 12 pts