Off to a good start

Ideal conditions for first leg of Tour Voile reports Isabelle Musy

It¹s been a fast first offshore race as it only took 11 hours to the 37-boat fleet to cover the 104 miles between Dunkerque Grand Littoral and Dieppe. Jimmy Pahun on board Région Ile de France came home first after having been leading all the way.

"It was a dream race," commented Pahun. "We had a good beat and rounded the top mark in first and then we managed to surf well and fast with our spinnaker, handling the boat perfectly. Our aim was to win one offshore race. So that's done. We hope to finish in the top five."

But it was very tight racing as the defending champions Pierre Loïc Berthet and his crew onboard Bouygues Telecom crossed the line only 30 seconds behind the winner. "We were two minutes late at Cape Gris-Nez and finished 30 seconds behind Région Ile de France," said Berthet. "That's good. Manoeuvres really started about 20 miles before the finish with many sail changes. Those who sailed close to the coast lost a lot. The key was to stay ashore to get more fresh breeze. For us it's a good start in this Tour de
France à la Voile considering that we did not take too many risks."

Cap Sport, helmed by 2002 Solitaire du Figaro winner Kito de Pavant came third but is still leading overall after having won the two inshore races in Dunkerque. The Aussies of Southern Sun Team Australia arrived in Dieppe in 12th position and stand in 9th place overall when the Italians of Joe Fly Sailing Team stand in 13th place overall after a disappointing 18th place today. Federico Michetti and his crew dropped form 5th to the last spot after encountering speed problems.

"We had a good start and did a good job upwind," said Michetti. "After that we didn¹t understand what happened as within an hour and a half of reaching we dropped from 5th to last. We think we had a plastic bag around our keel so we tried to take it off. During the night we made a good gain but we got unlucky in the end. We were in leeward position and with the wind turning to the right we finished upwind when the rest of the fleet was reaching. So we lost 5 or 6 spots again, But we're happy to be here and try to learn for tomorrow."

The gun had started on Sunday at 16h00 (local time) with a northeasterly breeze of 18 knots. The fleet sailed quickly to Calais and then off Cape Gris-Nez with the masthead spinnaker on. AT 20:00, Région Ile de France was ahead of the fleet with half a mile lead over Bouygues Telecom and Toulon Méditerranée-Provence- Coych. The rest of the boats were really close to each other except for Cap Sport, which passed a mark the wrong way and had to go and round it again. Soon after Cape Gris-Nez, the fleet split in two. Some stayed along the coast when some sailed further offshore. The latter choice proved to pay. As the fleet approached Dieppe, the wind got trickier and the crews had to change sails many times. Région Ile de France and Bouygues Telecom have led the whole way through. Unlike Cap Sport and Défi Partage who were far behind and managed to come back and to finish only a few minutes behind the first two.

Though tired, the sailors had a smile on their face after this fast and most enjoyable downwind leg in the Channel.

Kirwan Robb on Southern Sun Team Australia gave his side of the race: "We were 6th at the top mark and then we went to the last spot for 7 hours. But thanks to our good boat handling and our special fractional kite (designed by Melbourne's Jamie Thompson) we managed to come back. The conditions were good, it got pretty light before the dark and then picked back up to 14 knots and it stayed like that for the rest of the race. It was downwind the whole time except for the very finish.

"We're very happy with our team and how they worked during the night as for many people onboard it was the first offshore race. But we're not that happy with our boat speed. We have a problem. We have to work out what it is. We were also pretty happy with the inshore racing in Dunkerque. We came in 5th in the first race. Unfortunately we had a collision in the second race and lost a few spots doing the penalty."

The 37 crews have the day to rest in order to get ready for Tuesday¹s two inshore races off Dieppe. Then on Wednesday, the fleet will head for Cherbourg.