Victory for Tales

As Mistral Loisirs-Pole Sante Elior claims final race at the Class 40 World Championship

The Class 40 World Championship in Gijon, Spain concluded today with a race win for Thierry Bouchard's Mistral Loisirs-Pôle Santé Elior, while a third placed finish for Tales was enough to win Spaniard Gonzalo Botin and his team the 2010 title.

Thierry Bouchard can be pleased with his new Akilaria RC2 and his crew. He came to Gijon in order to line up with the other Class40s and test his new boat and ended up winning today's final race ahead of Jean-Edouard Criquioche’s Groupe Picoty and Tales.

Overall Mistral Loisirs-Pôle Santé Elior finished 2 points behind Tales, with the 2009 World Championships, Ned Collier-Wakefield's Concise 2 a further 9 points behind. Thomas Ruyant’s Destination Dunkerque was fourth ahead of Sam Manuard's Vecteur Plus.

Of his new championship title Gonzalo Botin commented: “We only got to enjoy the victory once we were back in the port. This adds one more victory to our credit but this one is an important one for the Class40, which is quite recent. Today was tight, the breeze was very light, and we almost didn’t make it. Our main opponant was really close behind. Fort he first time we were not first to reach the windward mark, but we managed to catch up and get back on top. As I said yesterday, we had to get through today to see what we are capable of.

"We were consistent and it all worked out. Today we were third but we did better on the previous races. Nothing was ever sure. We fought against several countries and I am really happy about this outcome. This Lombard designed deck is really good and has just been picked out to be produced in series. I hope this victory contributes to developing the Class40 in Spain. The boats are easy, fun and adaptable. It’s a wonderful result that adds up to the rest of the Spanish victories in many sports.”

Bouchard said: "We are rather happy of this result. But most of all this boat went quite fast and we really enjoyed ourselves. We were able to compare our boat to the others, which was one of the points of coming here. We usually sail in the Mediterranean so it was interresting to see the boats on the Atlantic. We still have some things to work on though, like the speed under spinnaker. For he moment we are preparing the boat for single-handed sailing because I’m leaving tonight for the Fastnet in Ireland, this is part of the qualifications for the Route du Rhum.”

Ned Collier Wakefield added: “We’re a bit disappointed of course, we didn’t do as well as we could have. It all came down to the weather, the light breeze didn’t favour us. We had about 15 knots of wind yesterday, and scored two bullets. We just needed the same conditions today. Plus, there were very good sailors here for this competition, the Spanish sailed really well. It was a beautiful race, congratulations to them. And we really enjoyed being in Spain. Now we’re getting back to England and we’ll do the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, and a lot more races... Then we will be here next year for the 2011 Class40 World Championship on our new boat, the Concise 3, this way we can get our title back.”

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