Visitors take the spoils

Five race marathon concludes Deauville International Week with several final race deciders

Bright summer sun, a Scandinavian chill and the normal slight chop familiar to the Baie de Seine encouraged the Race Commitee to increase the number of starts given from early morning on the final day of racing at Deauville International Week on Sunday.

The 500 racers have really been put to the test since the start of the week with fog and low-lying cloud colouring the racing. The teams simply relished the four or five races (for the Mumm boats and J/109) raced. In a slightly stronger wind, the leaders in the seven classes managed to consolidate their positions. In this way Deauville crowns a number of foreign class winners - The British teams of Matt Boyle (J/109), Louis Browne (Mumm 30) and Irish sailor Tim Costello (IRC 1) and Mike MacCarthy (IRC 2). With 8 to 11 races validated per series, Deauville, host for the occasion of the National IRC, the J/109 Euro Cup and the Mumm European Cup, has once again proven its ability to host and organise top level races. Both the French and International racers were absolutely delighted with the event and many have already pencilled it into their diaries for next year.

"It was the French we met at Cowes, who encouraged us to come here” explained Brendon Foley, skipper of Tiamat, the Irish Mills 40 who won IRC1. “We knew we had a good boat to sail here with and this confirms that". Fast upwind, Tamiat also adapted itself really well to the light winds from the start of the week and posted a clean sheet of first places. The crew, a close unit who have been together for over seven years on all kinds of boats, took great pleasure in coming to sail in Normandy prior to racing in the Irish national next week. “The race zone is very interesting and our families have really enjoyed spending time in Deauville whilst we've been sailing."

A regular performance avoiding any big mistakes were the key ingredients for success on the final day for the J/109 with five of the total eleven races sailed. The morning's leader Jeff Dakin on Johnny Blue II saw any hope of a podium place fade after two disastrous races, with one OCS and one 11th place. Matthew Boyle and team took his chance - Shiva managing to beat Jon Perry's Firestormto take victory by a single point. The Le Havre skipper Christophe Thébaud on Bip Bip saved the honour of the French, by taking third place in this top level series.

Two crews have really stood out in what was another very rich J/80 series. A teacher at the Naval College, Patrick Bot has been engaged in a fearsome battle throughout the 11 races this week with local sailor, Deauville skipper Philippe Szellos. The two sailors have alternated between victories and second places, leaving the Cherbourg sailor Fabrice Simon far behind to take bronze. The fleet had to wait until the very last race of the day though to see Bot take victory by a short boat-length ahead of Szellos. Bot commented after the finish: “We battled all the way to the wire against Philippe Szellos and his crew. Prior to the final race of the day we were on equal points. We won on the line!”

The British sailor Louis Browne, European champion here in Deauville last year face a last race battle to secure an overall victory for the second time. With two victories during the very last races, his team on Joules Asterix beat the Saint Malo team lead by François Lebourdais by 4 points as well as Dunkirk sailor Daniel Souben. The latter, at the head of the general ranking in the morning, didn't seem to perform quite so well in the steady breeze today, perhaps due to not having completely mastered his new set of sails.

Browne described the series: “It’s thoroughly exciting. The leaders were constantly changing during this Mumm 30 European Cup, either in our favour or to the advantage of Dunkirk or Saint-Malo. At the start of the final race, we were 1 point down on François Lebourdais’ crew. Everything depended on this last race and we won! Our aim in coming to Deauville was to find some top level competition in view of our preparation for the World Championships and we got just that!"

Another notable victory came in the 747 OD fleet this time with Gilles Dutoit ( Techneau) winning against the Fécamp sailor André Noel Robert ( Astelle) in the very last race once again. Gilbert Blossier ( Sealogis Pen Ru), just two boat lengths ahead of Didier Dardot ( Parsifal) and Dunkirk sailor Philippe Bourgeois, went on to take victory in the IRC 3 after 9 races. Mathieu Labat ( Onyx developpement) narrowly missed victory in the IRC 2 fleet, the crown finally going to Mike MacCarthy ( Checkmate) in another final race decider.

Manfred Ramspacher, event organiser commented: “For the second edition, the event sporting programme has been validated with one extra race in comparison to last year. 12 races were organised, which is something I'm very satisfied about. The Deauville race zone has once again demonstrated that it is capable of playing host to the finest top level international fleets despite being restricted by the lock gates and the weather conditions, which haven't always been that simple over the past 5 days".