Deauville International Week - a review

Recently returned from France TheDailySail's Andy Nicholson scratches under the surface of this new regatta

Have you ever raced somewhere which has a lock out to the racecourse? This is one of the key features at Deauville International Week that finished on Sunday. This new regatta, in its second year of running, tests not only your sailing skill and stamina (yes you can have late nights and yes we did do five races on the final day) but also your preconceptions about what makes a good event.

Deauville is very much Paris by the sea, being only two hours north of the French capital on the Seine Bay. This smart town is famous for its horseracing and casinos and exudes a confident and wealthy air. The regatta is run by Manfred Ramspacher’s Siruis Evenements and the dates are chosen to coincide with the most suitable tidal conditions – and hence the most convenient access in and out of the main lock in the Basin Mornay where the yachts are moored, and where the regatta village (sort of) buzzes.

Numbers were up slightly from last year’s 60 odd competitors and Ramspcher is aiming to build on quality, not quantity. “My objective is to develop the event in the way we have since the first, to race at a high level,” says the Frenchman (below) when we sit down to speak with him on Sunday evening. “I do not want to 300-400 boats, maybe 100-150. It is more important to have a big class and strong class.”



The French are famed for ‘enjoying’ their racing by spending hours at sea (anyone who has done Spi Ouest will agree) and in this way Deauville is little different - the lock gates, which maintain the minimum depth in the Basin, are open either side of high water and dictate your time at sea. This meant that for Thursday and Friday the boats did not leave until 1pm and then 2pm respectively, returning at 6pm onwards. For Saturday and Sunday it meant an early start – leaving by 8am before the gates closed and racing through the long low water period out on the Bay. On Sunday the gates did not open until 4.30pm and it was a mammoth conclusion to the regatta with four or five races sailed on the various courses to add to the six that had already been completed.

The issue is not just the lock, but also the subsequent depth in the channel out to the race area. In a J/109, with 2.1m draft, we fortunately had little cause for concern – the depth alarm did bleep but all was well. In IRC the larger Mill 40 Tiamat has a similar draft: “We had to wait a little bit,” commented the boat’s helmsman Brendan Foley. “We didn’t go right as the lock opened but the first hour of flood was so fast anyway. From that perspective it was fine and wouldn’t be an issue.”

Ramspacher has amongst his targets to attract to Deauville in the future the Solent based Farr 45 fleet - and in some ways the event needs a big (as in length) fleet. Foley admits though that the whole week, including the delivery has been quite a financial commitment from their perspective. “Any event you do, it’s a huge investment for the crew and the owner. There are 12 sailing but when you include shore support and you’re suddenly into numbers that are quite a bit of an investment. So you really want to be going somewhere where you are going to get some good competition.”

To this end, Tiamat who posted a clean sheet of bullets, perhaps didn’t get that. “A lot of the big guys who were meant to be there didn’t turn up,” confirmed Foley. They were expecting Codiam, the IMX 45 and Courrier Du Coeur, both from the 06 winning French Commodore’s Cup team.

In IRC Class 2, another Irish visitor, the Ker 32 Checkmate of Mike McCarthy in contrast had a good battle with the A35 of Mathieu Labat wining on countback. With only five boats in the class however it was a poor showing for what was the French IRC Nationals.

The J/109 class was a success with 16 entries building on last year’s seven. But only one of those additional boats was French, the rest from the British fleet. The Mumm 30 entry was down from 21 last year to 12 this; there was just one J/105, and no Melges 24.

To make the event really stand out it first needs to ensure that it has a high level of good domestic competitors; it already has good enough visitors as they took four of the main class titles.

There was little doubt however that the race organisation was excellent. There were three race areas, each with their own Committee and boats and each featured a French and British race officer. On the 30 strong J/109 and Mumm group we had top French PRO Chritsophe Gaunat combined with Peter Bateson. Other Brits on other committee boats included Tony Lovell and Philip Gage.

The teams tackled some difficult conditions, including one day with fog and a day with a marginal 5-6 knots for a while. In the IRC class the coastal race was thrown out after the foggy finish line was not where it was supposed to be, an unfortunate blip in an otherwise well organised regatta on the water.

The J/109s were probably the closest fleet, with the final standings separated by a few points. To improve the racing they could do with having bow numbers too – if only to aid the identification of those OCS. Almost every start had someone over and it was only the French sailors on Bip Bip (commendably) who actually pulled out halfway round the course when their numbers were later called on the VHF. A number of boats did go back and restart – but there were plenty of boats, including us on one occasion that didn’t. It is perhaps an area where the fleet itself needs to learn, but those over either have to be quickly told so, so they can go back, or understand that they are flicked and get off the racecourse. Bow numbers would make everyone’s life easier and the fleet would soon learn. Ramspacher is in support of this idea but feels the fleet would have to be bigger than 20 before they do this.

Onshore the venue was a great place to be. With the enforced lock in on two days there was no debate about leaving early. It meant that you had the opportunity to have a late night and also have a late morning taking in the sights of the town. “It actually worked quite well and there was a good bit of Apres Sail that everybody enjoyed,” confirmed Foley. “So from our perspective having the two late starts was actually fine. And to have two full days racing on Saturday and Sunday with no lock issues was great.” The two long days on the water needed to be planned for and a packet of Top Trumps, a deck of cards and large picnic lunch were onboard the J/109 to keep us occupied during the postponed light wind early morning on Saturday.

Foley would also like to see more variation in the racing – where windward leewards are perfect for the one-designs in IRC he thinks more variety would mix up the results. “One thing the organisers should really try to organise,” he adds “is for this regatta to be a real warm up for the Commodore’s Cup next year. They are only 100 miles from Cowes so it makes a lot of sense to put a series in.”

Three Dutch boats had made the trip down the coast but no X35s. This would be a perfect venue for them but with no French boats to instigate this Ramspacher says that his emails to the Dutch Class remained unanswered. It must also be remembered that Deauville is a long way from big French centres of sailing like La Trinite sur Mer and the Southern Brittany Coast.

Ramspacher is to be applauded in his international approach, even the official language is English – “You cannot understand how difficult to explain this here to the Yacht Club!” he laughs.

Perhaps he should also include some Anglo-Saxons on the shore side too noted Foley: “A lot of the lads have serious issues that there was only Heineken available in the tent! Particularly the owner, who doesn’t drink beer, but will drink anything else.”

There is no doubt that Ramspacher and his team are doing well at putting things into place to attract the serious racers. They just aren’t yet being attracted in the numbers that do the event justice. Backing from the town of Deauville has been agreed until 2009 and so it will go ahead for the next two years. How about a feeder race back to the Solent for the Commodore’s Cup boats in 2008?

More information and contact details can be found on the event website: http://www.deauville-week.com

Was it worth going? For us, absolutely, as the picture below illustrates…