No sleep

Pallu de la Barriere wins Tour Voile leg to Perros-Guirec

Red eyes and no sleep for the competitors of the Tour de France à la Voile during the Cherbourg Octeville-Perros-Guirec leg. An average of nine knots, all on a starboard tack in a 25 knot north-westerly and big seas, combined to make up the 100 mile leg that saw victory for the amateurs of Belvedere-Force EDC & Les Copains A Bord, skippered this leg by Philippe Pallu de la Barriere.

"Speed was essential in this leg, and ours was excellent. In terms of navigation, it was a question of the positioning in relation to the direct course: upwind or downwind of it," he said. "Two miles separated the fleet laterally from top to bottom which meant that it was impossible to tell who was in the lead until we made Perros-Guirec. We dived inshore a little earlier than the others, on the hunt for a more favourable current but with the risk of a wind shift. Finally ours proved a good one »noted the navigator Nicolas Goran, on his arrival ashore."

Theoule Mandelieu, positioned third, just four seconds after Region Île de France, settled further into its position as leader of the general ranking ahead of Bouygues Telecom who broke its mainsail halyardabout an hour after the start after slamming very hard into a hefty wave. The sea was too messy to send a crew up the mast to repair it so they used the spinnaker halyard for the remaining 10 hours of sailing. Pierre-Loïc Berthet was happy that this solution held enabling them an honourable seventh place, particularly while being dumped on continuously throughout the reaching in choppy seas.

Ahead of the fleet is a similar, albeit slightly lighter scenario between the Breton ports of Perros-Guirec and Locmiquelic. Navigation is going to be the key as there will be a number of decisive passages over the 160 mile stretch including the islands of Batz and Ouessant, the famous Raz de Sein and the Penmarc’h headland, and finally the negotiation of the Glenans archipelago prior to the finish.

The boats left port this evening from 2130 GMT and the departure to Locmiquelic will be given at 0345 GMT tomorrow morning with the finish expected on Sunday night.