French teams pull through

Andy Nicholson reports from the final of the Mumm 30 World Championship in La Trinite

A further six races sailed on Friday and Saturday shuffled the pack at the Mumm 30 World Championships in La Trinite sur Mer with Bouygues Telecom taking the title with a seven point cushion.

The wind built on Friday to 25 knots providing some challenging and enjoyable conditions for the fleet ­ four races were sailed (to make up for the lost race on Thursday) and it was a tired and weary bunch of sailors who returned back to the dock at the end of a big day of sailing.

The pivotal moment came in race seven when after a general recall the committee flew the black flag to get things back into order. 14 boats were called over in the next general recall and were disqualified from the race. Four of the top boats in contention for the overall victory were caught out and added 41 points to their no-discard score. This included Asterix, Mean Machine, Barking Mad and Dangerous But Fun.

Bouygues Telecom on the other hand won the race and jumped into contention.

On Rainbow we escaped the black flag and sailed well to score an 11th. It was all on down the runs with the boat speed topping out at 20 knots and a huge amount of water coming over the bow. The fact that there were 14 less boats in the way was a real bonus

In the last race of the day we face planted down the run and as a result lost one set of spinnaker sheet and guy over the side and ripped the masthead spinnaker getting her back on board. We did however manage to sort ourselves out and get the fractional chute up for the second run and clambered back to up to 27th with several boats loosing their footing along the way.

Two final races were scheduled for the Saturday and it was still far from clear who would win the Championship.

Again it was an action packed day of yachting with a building breeze. On the final race Groovederci got out to the right hand side of the course and marched off to a very big lead with Barking Mad in second. On Rainbow we sailed a clean race and got a 13th out of it meaning that we finished 19th overall.

At the top of the table it was all on the final race placings. Toulon Provence, who had shown a real trun of speed in the lighter conditions earlier in the week faltered on the final day with their two poorest results ­ a 16th and a 23rd. Bouygues Telecomhowever was home and dry with an eighth and a 19th.

Asterix finished in third with 100 points ­ 41 of those from the black flag. In fourth was the one boat that really improved going through the regatta Le Port Bred Renunion, whose first result was a 34th and then nothing worse than a ninth in the windy stuff. Defending World Champion, Richard Perini on Foreign Affair rounded out the top five with 128 points.

The crew on Rainbow unfortunately missed the prizegiving as we had one last little test to pass before we were excused from La Trinite. One of the tyres on the trailer clipped a kerbstone and punctured leaving us with a ‘Challenge Anneka’ style exercise to get the whole show back on the road. So we missed the playing of the British National anthem when the Austalian team Foreign Affair got up on the stage at yacht club…We did however see the fight between two of the girls on the all girl boat Eminence in the Wiskey Club later that evening.

As they say in yacht racing, it’s not over till it’s over.

Results

Pos	Boat	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot
1	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pl. Berthet	3.00	7.00	1.00	6.00	21.00	4.00	1.00	5.00	9.00	8.00	19.00	84
2	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCH	F. Henry	5.00	3.00	12.00	3.00	6.00	2.00	4.00	7.00	10.00	16.00	23.00	91
3	ASTERIX	L. Browne	2.00	2.00	3.00	2.00	1.00	10.00	41.00	15.00	8.00	9.00	7.00	100
4	LE PORT-BRED-REUNION	M. Guessard	36.00	14.00	14.00	16.00	5.00	8.00	6.00	3.00	4.00	2.00	9.00	117
5	FOREIGN AFFAIR	R. Perini	4.00	18.00	9.00	4.00	12.00	29.00	3.00	18.00	14.00	3.00	14.00	128
6	GROOVEDERCI	D. Demourkas	9.00	4.00	2.00	24.00	20.00	16.00	2.00	26.00	19.00	6.00	1.00	129
7	TWINS 3	E. Maris	12.00	13.00	10.00	8.00	13.00	12.00	7.00	22.00	5.00	12.00	24.00	138
8	MEAN MACHINE	P. de Ridder	24.00	21.00	13.00	18.00	3.00	6.00	41.00	1.00	1.00	4.00	8.00	140
9	BARKING MAD	J. Richardson	6.00	6.00	12.00	15.00	30.00	9.00	41.00	2.00	12.00	11.00	2.00	146
10	DANGEROUS BUT FUN	M. Perris	1.00	8.00	5.00	7.00	4.00	25.00	41.00	25.00	21.00	10.00	4.00	151
11	KANATI	C.R. Barr	7.00	11.00	11.00	5.00	2.00	13.00	17.00	27.00	22.00	26.00	10.00	151
12	TOBAGO	H. Leduc	14.00	5.00	15.00	17.00	10.00	1.00	13.00	19.00	23.00	19.00	16.00	152
13	RUE-DU-PORT.COM	N. Pauchet	29.00	12.00	4.00	30.00	9.00	20.00	41.00	6.00	7.00	1.00	5.00	164
14	BELVEDERE-EBSCO	V. Portugal	17.00	25.00	33.00	9.00	15.00	7.00	5.00	4.00	25.00	13.00	15.00	168
15	COTES D'ARMOR	V. Biarnes	34.00	20.00	18.00	12.00	18.00	17.00	9.00	12.00	6.00	5.00	22.00	173
16	DEFI PARTAGE-MARSEILLE	T. Bouchard	19.00	22.00	25.00	10.00	11.00	18.00	41.00	14.00	18.00	17.00	11.00	206
17	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	J. Pahun	38.00	1.00	38.00	22.00	27.00	11.00	18.00	8.00	3.00	21.00	25.00	212
18	DUNKERQUE PLAISANCE	D. Souben	11.00	38.00	28.00	36.00	26.00	15.00	14.00	9.00	11.00	24.00	3.00	215
19	RAINBOW	Bent Dietrich	20.00	10.00	7.00	25.00	25.00	26.00	11.00	28.00	27.00	29.00	13.00	221
20	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	G. Trentesaux	22.00	28.00	20.00	19.00	35.00	14.00	16.00	16.00	20.00	18.00	18.00	226
21	ALPES MARITIMES	S. Chtounder	15.00	19.00	22.00	1.00	33.00	24.00	41.00	20.00	2.00	20.00	30.00	227
22	TECHNEAU PAYS GRANVILLAIS	B. Charon	16.00	34.00	6.00	11.00	14.00	31.00	41.00	24.00	34.00	15.00	17.00	243
23	TOPAS	H. Bruening	32.00	9.00	17.00	26.00	41.00	28.00	10.00	10.00	15.00	14.00	41.00	243
24	MAMMY !	Foley Diarmuid	27.00	16.00	31.00	28.00	7.00	5.00	21.00	21.00	41.00	34.00	41.00	272
25	AMEC SPIE SODIFAC ROUBAIX	E. Basset	8.00	24.00	35.00	23.00	8.00	39.00	12.00	41.00	30.00	35.00	20.00	275
26	INEO SUEZ POLE I.R.S	P. Langlais	23.00	32.00	19.00	31.00	36.00	22.00	20.00	41.00	41.00	7.00	6.00	278
27	NANTES ST-NAZAIRE 1	L. Sambron	26.00	35.00	16.00	20.00	39.00	27.00	41.00	11.00	13.00	22.00	29.00	279
28	VAN UDDEN TU DELFT	G. Van Der Heÿder	10.00	17.00	27.00	13.00	17.00	23.00	41.00	23.00	41.00	38.00	31.00	281
29	CARRY-CNTL-UNIMECA	C. Bauler	40.00	39.00	29.00	21.00	19.00	21.00	24.00	13.00	24.00	33.00	28.00	291
30	FILENET	L. Corazza	25.00	36.00	21.00	27.00	16.00	32.00	41.00	36.00	29.00	25.00	12.00	300
31	OUI	P. Mckenzie	13.00	30.00	26.00	29.00	31.00	33.00	8.00	29.00	41.00	30.00	32.00	302
32	ZUXU	Viisemann/Saraskin	31.00	15.00	23.00	35.00	40.00	3.00	41.00	31.00	16.00	41.00	27.00	303
33	WHITE SHARK	G. Gibbons	28.00	29.00	34.00	32.00	41.00	19.00	19.00	35.00	33.00	23.00	26.00	319
34	TRIPLE P	F. Khalegui Yazdi	18.00	31.00	36.00	39.00	23.00	36.00	23.00	32.00	25.00	37.00	36.00	336
35	MOONSHINE	Jack Kelly	21.00	26.00	24.00	14.00	24.00	41.00	25.00	41.00	41.00	41.00	41.00	339
36	FELICITY	H. Harwood/Nick Hartshorn	35.00	23.00	32.00	38.00	38.00	35.00	22.00	30.00	41.00	28.00	21.00	343
37	NANTES ST-NAZAIRE 2	G. Aunette	37.00	33.00	39.00	37.00	30.00	37.00	26.00	17.00	31.00	27.00	35.00	349
38	EMINENCE	S. Brain	39.00	37.00	30.00	33.00	28.00	38.00	15.00	37.00	32.00	36.00	34.00	359
39	PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN	E. Blouet	30.00	27.00	37.00	34.00	40.00	34.00	41.00	33.00	28.00	32.00	37.00	373
40	SILICON THEATRE SCENERY	R. Pronk	33.00	41.00	40.00	41.00	29.00	30.00	41.00	34.00	34.00	31.00	33.00	387