Groovederci pipped at the post

Tour Voile reaches Port Bourgenay

Overall results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Total
1	THEOULE MANDELIEU	Sylvain Chtounder	433
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc Berthet	429
3	GROOVEDERCI	Deneen B. Demourkas/Laurent Pages	428,5
4	REGION ILE DE France	Jimmy Pahun/Nicolas Pauchet	425,5
5	DEFI PARTAGE MARSEILLE	Thierry Bouchard/Dimitri Deruelle	392,5
6	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCH	P.L.Garnero/F.Henry	391,5
7	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien di Biase/Denis Girardet	383,5
8	DIEPPE SEINE MARITIME	Romain Gibon	367,5
9	CSC ESSEC	Hervé Gautier	360,5
10	BELVEDERE FORCE EDC LES COPAINS A BORD	Vincent Portugal	331,5
11	COTES D'ARMOR	Vincent Biarnes	304
12	PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN	Eric Blouet	282,5
12	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	Florent Gaggero	282,5
14	VILLE DU PORT BRED ILE DE LA REUNION	Jean Albert Gabriel/M.Guessard	269
15	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	Stéphane Venel	266,5
16	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	Paul Mc Kenzie	264,5
17	DOUARNENEZ VOILE MAGAZINE	Loïc Le Garrec	256
18	BIENNE VOILE	R.Hartmann	243
19	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE ESTUDINES.COM	Pierre François Le Poutre	237,5
20	DEFI DON DU SANG ALLIBERT- HEC-ESC GRENOBLE-X	Philippe Legros	236,5
21	NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE	S.Petithuguenin	236
22	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	Xavier Cantegrel/Pascale Dentraygue	223,5
23	ALFA LAVAL	Yoann Richomme/Antoine Cardin	214
24	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST BRETAGNE	N. Audigane/T. Mahé/M. Riou/C.Pratt	204
25	MARSEILLE UNIVERSITES VILLE DE BANDOL	J.F. chevalier/S.Guignard	197
26	EIGSI CHARENTE MARITIME	Antoine Albaret	188,5
27	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES CAPITALE	J.M.Fobert/L.Declercq	187
28	TEPACAP	J.Grégoire/A.Pallu de la Barrière	181,5
29	DEFI JEAN BART	G.Delacroix/T.Ruyant	168,5
30	DELFT CHALLENGE	Ko Stroo	165,5

"Aching arms, aching legs, aching back", was the refrain on last night’s pontoons in Port Bourgenay Talmont St Hilaire as the crews of the Tour de France à la Voile touched base after a leg of intense racing..

Fabien Henri, skipper of the winning boat Toulon Provence Mediterrannee Coych
commented on the 11 hour regatta: "Apart from the nearly two mile windward stretch just after the start, the 100 mile leg was raced under spinnaker with certain points of sail that were close and hard to sustain. Groovederci really came off well. A few boats found the pace reaching too difficult off Quiberon and ressorted to genoas. The hoisting of the small spinnaker had to be carefully timed while passing the Quiberon peninsula, as did the dropping of the spinnaker which made us go a lot quicker providing that we drove the boat well.

"These manoeuvres and their timing made all the difference. That’s where the race was won or lost for me. Then we did a good job negotiating our position, particularly as we managed to pass Groovederci in a gybing battle between the Ile de Yeu and the finish, in the middle of the night."

For the Mediterranean sailors from Hyères, participating for the fourth time, their objective of a podium finish remains within reach provided that they do well in the offshore legs. They currently lie sixth in the overall results, just one point off fifth place.

On Groovederci, the Americans are also savouring their second place result tonight with
a very slight hint of bitterness after being pipped at the post, leaving them third in the overall results, just half a point from second place.

"We were in the lead for the whole race until 23h00. It’s obvious that one this point of sail, the more the wind strengthens the better the crew are at making the difference. It was a leg where we were on a direct course and you had to go quick to free yourself of the leading group and not get caught up with the potentially slower boats. That's when the wind eased that we couldn’t keep off our direct pursuer who was going very quickly."

Despite some problems with their spinnaker halyard sheaves, Region Ile de France, recovered well to take third place, moving them into fourth overall in the overall results putting the smile back on the face of their navigator for the leg, Open 60 skipper and previous Tour Voile winner Jean-Pierre Dick.

There was some disappointment for Defi Partage Marseille who finished fourth. "We made up ground with the tactics at the end of the race but we had a difficult start. Our reach was not exactly exemplary," explained Dimitri Deruelle, the new co-skipper and
winner of the 2003 race.

It was a similar story for the crew of Bouygues Telecom, who finished ninth, allowing them to hold onto second place overall, four points from Theoule Mandelieu who continue to lead. Nevertheless they made an impressive comeback after rounding the windward mark in 19th place.

The overall leaders put in another solid performance finishing sixth in the leg after leading the fleet at the outset. Her skipper, Sylvain Chtounder, says they find the longer offshore legs easier than they have in previous years.

Of particular significance in this leg were the performance of the young teams on Nantes St Nazaire who seem to have been inspired by Jean-Yves Jaffrezi as well as the students from Brest Grandes Ecoles Ensieta Enst-Bretagne, both of whom finished in the top ten on this leg.

The leader of the student ranking is still Defi Grandes Ecoles Total Insa but Defi Sclerose en Plaques - Leonard de Vinci has made a fine comeback in the results to take second overall.

Among the amateurs, just two points now separate the youngsters from Geneva
on Ville de Geneve Carrefour Prevention from CSC ESSEC, who have lacked form in the last two regattas.

Today was spent on repairs, rest and … golf for those that were missing the green. Tomorrow’s first race will start at 1100 hours off Port Bourgenay Talmont St Hilaire. Three races are scheduled, all with a coefficient 1, to make up for those races that couldn’t be run in Locmiquelic.

In the Challenge AGF ranking, Groovederci holds the lead ahead of Theoule Mandelieu and Defi Partage Marseille.