Tour Voile diary

John Greenland looks at the form of the three British teams taking part in the Tour Voile

Just three short weeks have passed since the finish of the Volvo Ocean Race and already the yachting community has moved on to the next event, the Tour de France a la Voile.

This year two British teams have accepted the challenge of this gruelling 30 day event. Robert Greenhalgh, skippering Simon Sarsfield's Panther in the Professional division, and Owen Modral, skippering Royal Thames in the amateur division, have each entered the event intending to win their category of racing.

Time and time again French sailors return to this intense one design event which sees teams race around the coast of France for the month of July - the largest leg being some 244nm of punishing racing around the north eastern tip of France.

Over the past three years the event has rapidly risen in prestige, last year several America's Cup teams - in particular Team New Zealand - have entered the event. Two years ago Adrian Stead, skippering Barlo Plastics, won the event. Many of the team graduated to compete the 2001-2 Volvo Ocean Race. Last year it was the turn of the student team, led by Simon Shaw, to fight for Team GBR. Again, they were successful, winning the Student division and finishing ninth overall.

The question is - who's involved, and what are their chances...

Scanning through the sailing CVs of the Greenhalgh's team it is clear the campaign means business. Ever since the Mumm 30 Worlds in Sardinia last year, where the team finished fourth, Greenhalgh has been focused on this event. Fortunately the team secured funding early, which is a vital element as so convincingly shown by John Kostecki's illbruck Challenge in the Volvo.

While French teams worried about finance, the Panther squad focused on testing and handling. When the French teams were concentrating on crew work, the Panther team was re-writing the North tuning guide. Without a doubt they have developed the necessary skills to win the regatta.

Though the team have failed to crush the opposition they haven't fallen far short. At the benchmark French Nationals the team finished third. A fortnight later the team again scored a third overall, this time at the Mumm 30 Europeans. Both times the team sailed well, however they lacked the necessary consistency to take the championships - in particular dropping down in light airs.

However, looking closely at the individual results, the team convincingly showed their superior boat speed over the closely matched one design fleets. During the final race of the Europeans the team won by an incredible two minute margin after just 75 minutes of racing. On top of this the team were fitting into class rules and sailing with fewer professionals than they would have prefered, Greenhalgh himself was unable to take the helm during the three day regatta. This time such limits are removed.

The team is made up from an impressive array of UK International sailors. Looking at the line up for helms alone you get a strong taste of the potency of this team. Ian Barker, 2000 49er Olympic Silver Medallist, Farr 40 European Champion Mark Heeley, and 1720 European Champion Mark Rushall all command high levels of respect in this close knit community.

Moving forward through the boat the list goes on. Duncan McDonald, who successfully brought Shaw's student entry up to speed last year, joins the team along with Ultra 30 champions Matt Alvarado and Jerry Eplett, and renowned Melges 24 sailor Mike Budd. Without a doubt the boat will go fast - and with Tour Voile, Whitbread, and America's Cup navigator Mike Broughton on the case for navigation the team should in theory go the right way as well. There are some top sailors, including several past Mumm 30 World and European champions, competing this year - but as it was a relatively safe bet to put your money on illbruck, I would have to say it's fairly similar odds for the Panther coming out on top at the Tour de Voile.

What Modral's team, which when ignoring navigators has an average age of just 22, is lacking budget wise compared to the Panther Team it made up with enthusiasm is the best way to describe this year's British entry into the Amateur division. Though many of the team members are yet to make it on the professional sailing scene that is not to say they are incapable of doing an equally respectable job out on the water.

With the knowledge of last year's Tour de Voile win and several fresh faces the team is well placed to succeed in it's goal to win the Amateur division and finish in the top ten overall this year. Though several characters have moved on from last year's team, including Dave Carr, Jeremy Elliott and Shaw to GBR Challenge, their replacements are equally talented.

Modral, one of the top UK match racing and team racing helms, is a well respected "fast" sailor among his peers. Not only this, but his drive to excel in sailing combined with his natural leadership abilities make for a well founded campaign on the road to success.

Surrounding Modral is a core group of young sailors hungry to win and prove themselves on the yachting scene. Funded by members of the Royal Thames, and using the Mumm 30 donated kindly by Richard Bonham-Christie, the team has the often lacking personal touch. Of note is the impressive portable accomodation, the 'ark', the team have for the event compared to the hotel rooms many teams are staying in.

Alongside Modral is student sailor Ruairidh Scott, student world yachting champion and 1720 national champion in the last two years alone. From the dinghy racing scene comes Ben Field, a past Enterprise World Champion and experienced 420 sailor who has attended several World Championships, Dom Johnson, one of the countries finest team racers, and James Ward, winning bowman at the UK and World Match Racing Championships. Later in the event the
team will be joined by Mark Lees and Lizzie Vickers, established fleet racers in the UK dinghy circuit.

Not wanting to lack keelboat and offshore experience Modral has an equally impressive core of sailors. Tanguy Lamotte, the team's sole Frenchman, has logged thousands of offshore miles on an impressive array of boats including Ellen MacArthur's Open 60 Kingfisher and Steve Fossett's maxi-catamaran
Playstation. Acting as shore manager and crewmember will be John Greenland, who not only boasts top British placings in the 420 World Championships, but
also over 6,000nm of offshore sailing in the last two months alone. From last year's winning student team comes Ashley Curtis who has four years of Mumm 30
sailing experience and many logged offshore miles. And, acting as reserve crew and team shore crew, is Malcolm Reed who, with a wealth of offshore and
America's Cup boat build experience will bring invaluable knowledge to the team. Joining the team later will be Mark Williams and Shane Huges, two
equally impressive keelboat racers.

The role of navigator will be shared between two equally impressive sailors for the month long regatta. Peter Whipp, of the Admirals Cup winning Panda campaigns back in the 1980s and two times Laser Masters Champion, will kick off the proceedings to be replaced by Team Adventure navigator Larry
Rosenfeld later on in the event. Certainly two formidable members to what is already a strong team.

These two boats are not the only two boats sporting British sailors. Force EDC, a later entry International Student Team, will also be competing this year. The motherland contingent will be made up from 2002 Student Yachting Champions Mark Reynell, Sam Stephens, and Farr 40 sailor
Lucy Newnham. After a month of whirlwind preparation it's hard to judge the team's capabilities, we'll look into this team in more depth when the regatta
gets underway.

Of course only time will tell whether these teams can rise to the occasion. One thing, however, is for sure - you can already sense it's going to be another memorable Tour de France a la Voile.

For a complete list of entries see page 2...

Next week John Greenland will look into the shore side of the Tour de Voile and introduce some of the stars of this year's event.