Cammas drops a race

On the first day of the Lorient Grand Prix for the ORMA 60 trimarans

The opening day of the Lorient Grand Prix for the ORMA 60 trimarans was held in perfect 12-18 knot westerlies, albeit under and overcast sky. Franck Cammas and his crew on board the green-hulled Groupama II once again showed their supremacy in the fleet in these conditions. However it did not go entirely their way, with Fred le Peutrec's Gitana II taking the second of today's three races and Banque Populaire also in the frame.

The race course as ever off Lorient was complicated with the local effects of the breeze with a harbour inshore and the off-lying Ile de Groix and strong tide.

The first windward-leeward saw Armel Cléac'h at the helm of Foncia and Pascal Bidégorry's Banque Populaire get across the line at speed. However for Michel Desjoyeaux and his Geant crew, the race got off to a bad start when they developed a problem with their genniker, resulting in him finishing last. Cammas and his team got ahead through better tactics and manoeuvres finishing ahead of Banque Populaire and Foncia.



In the second race it was Banque Populaire and Gitana II who were first to the weather mark ahead of Groupama II and unusually with Thierry Dubrey's normally dog slow Gitana X in contention - this was until their genniker blew up. After a promising first race Foncia's fortunes took a turn for the worse when they received a penalty in an incident with Groupama 2. In the end Gitana II finished ahead of Groupama and Banque Populaire, the speeds of the boats proving relatively similar in the stronger conditions.

For the third race of the day the breeze was dropping. After the start the Banque Populaire crew fluffed a tack allowing Groupama into the lead. Foncia and Gitana II were unable to challenge the speed of Groupama in these conditions. Cammas went on to score his second win of the day.

Tomorrow the forecast is for the wind to pick up to 20 knots from the northwest and is expected to be gusty.

Results - Grand Prix Cap l’Orient (after three races):

1 Franck Cammas - Groupama-2 (1+2+1) 4 points
2 Pascal Bidegorry - Banque Populaire (2+3+2) 7 points
3 Frédéric Le Peutrec - Gitana 11 (4+1+4) 9 points
4 Armel Le Cléac’h – Foncia (3+4+3) 10 points
5 Michel Desjoyeaux - Géant (6+5+5) 16 points
6 Thierry Duprey du Vorsent - Gitana X (5+6+6) 17 points