Elies shines

On penultimate day of the Figaro class' Generali Mediterranee

The penultimate day of racing in the singlehanded Figaro class' Generali Mediterranee. started with 15 knots of wind from the east - ideal for the competitors to carry out another lap of the Porquerolles islands but this time in the opposite direction to yesterday. Race two today, a windward-leeward was cancelled due to a lack of breeze.

With the performance of the top two boats remaining consistent, all will resting on the performance of the top two boats Gildas Morvan's Cercle Vert and Erwan Tabarly's Thales, tomorrow.

After an excellent start Yann Eliès quickly took lead, rounding the Porquerolles island of Bagaud, chased by last year's winner of this race, Jérémie Beyou and Sebastien Audigane.

Later in the race the wind dropped and veered to the southwest, helping a number of the boats in the fleet. Passing Cape d'Ames, the leaders were Yann Eliès, Gildas Morvan, Erwan Tabarly, Jérémie Beyou and Gilles Chiorri. Eliès, who last year sailed around the world as part of Bruno Peyron's crew on Orange hung in there to take his first win in this series.

Leading Figaro newbie Christopher Pratt sailed close into the shore, lost the breeze and was forced to use his engine to prevent his boat being washed on to the rock. He has now been over taken in the first timer division by Franck-Yves Escoffier.

Sam Davies finished 17th, her highest place in the series to date. "Today's race was all about being in the right place for when the sea breeze finally won the battle over the gradiant breeze which it did and so we had a 180 degree wind shift! I knew it was going to happen so got myself in a good position by staying offshore because you could see there was going to be no breeze inshore.

"Sometimes not being in the lead has its advantages! You could see how the wind shift was affecting the leaders so then I could work what was going to happen and position myself better - I must have got passed about 5 boats after the wind shift.

"I was right next to Jeanne Gregoire and we both went in the same direction...doing the same thing which gives you confidence and I managed to get past her by doing a better spinnaker hoist. Then she sat on my tail for the rest of the race as we picked our way up the rankings...hunting in pairs!

"I will approach the racing tomorrow as I did today...it's a new race, don't switch off, go out it and race the best you can..."

Tomorrow the race organisers are hoping to stage two more races. A stronger sea breeze is forecast for tomorrow. It is expected that they will attempt to run two windward/leeward courses starting at 11h00...

Results;

Pos	Boat	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	Tot
1	CERCLE VERT	Gildas MORVAN	3	3	4	4	8	4	7	1	16	1	1	2	54
2	THALES	Erwan TABARLY	8	8	8	2	6	2	1	4	9	4	3	3	58
3	DELTA DORE	Jeremie BEYOU	2	5	20	3	3	16	3	10	8	2	5	6	83
4	CREALINE	Armel LE CLEACH	1	1	22	6	1	8	2	5	10	15	4	11	86
5	AON	Laurent PELLECUER	17	2	12	7	15	6	8	2	2	10	9	4	94
6	DAVID OLIVIER	Eric DROUGLAZET	4	4	2	1	2	30	4	16	1	3	33	7	107
7	3201 METEOCONSULT Groupe Prosodie	Gilles CHIORRI	14	9	18	9	9	10	5	18	3	6	11	5	117
8	GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES	Yann ELIES	5	7	44	8	4	28	10	6	12	5	2	1	132
9	BOSTIK FINDLEY	Charles CAUDRELIER BENAC	11	18	36	5	5	12	6	8	4	7	13	10	134
10	ESPOIR CREDIT AGRICOLE	Gwenaël RIOU	9	12	12	16	10	38	19	9	19	9	6	16	175
11	E. LECLERC Protégeons l'environnement	Sébastien AUDIGANE	12	6	10	10	7	42	9	11	22	18	18	12	177
12	Petit Navire Le Bon Goût du Large	Thierry CHABAGNY	21	15	34	11	11	46	16	14	7	21	8	8	211
13	PORT TREBEURDEN	Romain ATTANASIO	16	21	26	14	12	32	18	17	14	22	7	15	213
14	CREPES WHAOU !	Franck-Yves ESCOFFIER**	7	13	52	21	20	20	17	15	6	23	14	9	217
15	PETITS-PETONS / FTH THIRARD	Christophe ARTAUD**	18	16	40	18	18	24	11	12	21	12	22	21	232
16	IN EXTREMIS	Marc EMIG**	23	25	28	20	19	34	12	13	11	11	19	22	236
17	VILLE DE CHERBOURG / MORY TEAM	Alexandre TOULORGE	15	10	54	12	14	18	24	21	26	14	15	14	237
18	Café MALONGO	Christopher PRATT**	6	33	34	13	16	40	13	3	17	16	16	33	240
19	Rêve de grand - ACTUAL Interim	Yves LE BLEVEC**	24	11	14	15	33	44	15	24	15	26	12	13	246
20	SORELEC MBD Design	Arnaud BOISSIERES	13	19	38	19	13	36	20	20	24	25	10	23	259
21	M@RSEILLE ENTREPRISES	Jean Paul MOUREN	33	22	56	27	24	22	14	7	5	20	17	20	266
22	Skipper ag2r	Jeanne GREGOIRE	19	23	20	24	17	50	23	22	27	17	21	18	280
23	BERMUDES	Marc THIERCELIN	10	20	58	33	33	14	22	19	13	8	33	19	286
24	SKANDIA	Samantha DAVIES**	20	27	62	23	23	26	27	23	18	19	20	17	303
25	ART IMMOBILIER CONSTRUCTION	Daniel DUPONT	22	17	46	17	22	48	21	25	23	13	27	25	305
26	SOR TMC	Christophe BOUVET**	25	24	24	22	21	66	25	28	28	28	23	24	342
27	PLUS PHARMACIE	Stéphane SEVAUX**	28	30	32	28	27	66	26	30	25	27	24	26	371
28	SECTOR SPORT WATCHES	Corrado AGUSTA**	27	33	52	26	26	52	31	26	31	24	26	29	383
29	ALTAVENTURE / SNSM	Eric PILAT**	29	33	42	29	28	58	30	27	29	30	28	28	391
30	MONACO MARINE GROUP	Alberto SPINA	30	28	66	25	25	56	28	29	20	33	33	27	398
31	STERN groep	Sander BAKKER**	26	33	50	33	33	54	29	33	30	29	25	30	405
-	LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR	Lionel PEAN	33	33	66	33	33	56	33	33	33	33	33	33	462