Half way to Dieppe

Breeze subsides allowing first leg of the Tour Voile to get underway

Finally at 0411GMT the start of the first leg of the Tour de France à la Voile got underway from Dunkirk in a managable wind.

Belvedere Force EDC & Les Copains A Bord had the edge over the AGF Challenge at the windward mark, but were being hounded by Hervé Gautier’s CSC – ESSEC who is having a great race. On their heels were the Americans on Groovederci, current leaders in the early overall results.

After the weather mark the fleet divided with the leaders taking a coastal route while those astern headed out to sea.

Off Le Touquet, just beyond the half way mark to Dieppe, it was Bouygues Telecom who had taken control, trailed by Theoule Mandelieu.

CSC-ESSEC overtook Groovederci to take third ahead of Jimmy Pahun's Region Ile de France and Toulon Provence Mediterrannee Coych.

At the time of writing the boats are tacking upwind in 12 knots of breeze. With 2.5 knots of current on the nose at the moment and the imminent turn in the tide, ETAs in Dieppe are expected to be around 2000 GMT.

In Dieppe locals are already packed into the race village, eager to provide the customary warm welcome to their guests despite the unsettled weather. Tonight’s party marking the end of the first leg is set to be a big one...

Tomorrow two coastal courses are scheduled, the first of them setting off at 1030GMT.

(Unofficial) order off Le Touquet (unofficial positions) at 1300 GMT today.

1 BOUYGUES TELECOM
2 THEOULE MANDELIEU
3 CSC - ESSEC
4 GROOVEDERCI (USA)
5 REGION ILE DE FRANCE
6 TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCH
7 PSA PEUGEOT CITROËN
8 DEFI PARTAGE - MARSEILLE
9 VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION (Suisse)
10 BELVEDERE - FORCE EDC & LES COPAINS A BORD
11 DOUARNENEZ - VOILE MAGAZINE
12 DIEPPE SEINE MARITIME
13 DEFI DON DU SANG ALLIBERT HEC-ESC GRENOBLE-X
14 ALFA LAVAL (Royaume-Uni)
15 VILLE DU PORT BRED LA REUNION
16 BIENNE-VOILE
17 TEPACAP
18 PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE
19 T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES CAPITALE / BRUSSELS HOOFDSTEDELIJK GEWEST (Belgique)
20 EIGSI LA ROCHELLE CHARENTE-MARITIME
21 DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA
22 BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST-BRETAGNE
23 COTES D’ARMOR
24 NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE
25 DEFI JEAN BART
26 DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES - LEONARD DE VINCI
27 MARSEILLE UNIVERSITES VILLE DE BANDOL
28 DELFT CHALLENGE TU DELFT (Pays-Bas)
29 PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE ESTUDINES.COM
Not positioned: ESPOIRS AQUITAINS