Tough going

Tour Voile fleet arrive in St Malo from long offshore and head straight into round the cans race

It was a busy day for the crews competing in the Tour de France à la Voile. The Mumm 30 fleet arrived in Saint-Malo this morning at 8.00 after the longest offshore leg of the race from Honfleur (155 miles). Then they had to start again at 15.00 for an Olympic triangle race. Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères won the first, Dieppe-Seine Maritime the second.

When they arrived this morning in the harbour of Saint-Malo, the crews were exhausted, but happy. They’ve just been at sea for 26 hours in very demanding conditions, with a lot of currents, rocks, strong winds and light winds to negotiate. But what a race! Up to the finish line, the competition was very tight and in the end only three minutes separated first from fifth.

“During the night we were fighting with four or five boats and on board we took it in turns," said Fabien Henry, skipper of Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères. In the morning, we were probably a bit more 'awake' than the others, and we won”.

Second across the finish line, Bouygues Telecom had had a tough race. Before the Raz Blanchard, near Cherbourg, they ran aground on a rock and their keel is damaged. They managed to finish the race and to compete again today, but tonight they will have to take the boat out of the water and make repairs, and this will coast them 10 points in the overall scoring. Region Ile de France finished third of this offshore leg.

Bearly had they arrived when at 12.00, the Mumm 30s left the docks again to start an Olympic triangle race in the Bay of Saint-Malo at 15.00.

Dieppe Seine-Maritime won this race, the first inshore race since the start of the Tour de France à la Voile in Dunkerque. They were followed by Belvedere-EDC-Ebsco, and Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères.

In the overall positions, Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères is still leading and is extending over Bouygues Telecom. Behind them, the crew of Dieppe Seine-Maritime has regained third position.

The crews now have a full night to rest. Tomorrow, they will leave Saint-Malo at 11.00 and head to Paimpol, 40 miles further west down Brittany's northern coast. The weather conditions should be quite fair with northerly winds between 15 and 20 knots.

Overall positions:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Tot
1	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCHyères	Fabien HENRY	417
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc BERTHET	383
3	DIEPPE SEINE-MARITIME	Romain GIBON	346
4	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien DI BIASE	333
5	DEFI PARTAGE – MARSEILLE	Thierry BOUCHARD / Dimitri DERUELLE	322
6	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	Gery TRENTESAUX	315
7	ESPOIR ILE DE FRANCE	Jean-pierre NICOL / Victor LANIER	306
8	ALPES-MARITIMES MANDELIEU THEOULE	Sylvain CHTOUNDER	303
9	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	Jimmy PAHUN / Nicolas PAUCHET	288
10	VILLE DU PORT BRED LA REUNION	Marc GUESSARD / Gabriel JEAN-ALBERT	267
11	CSC – ESSEC	Hervé GAUTIER	265
12	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	J.P.ALLILIAIRE/X.CANTEGREL/P.DENTRAYGUES/J.FALXA	258
13	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE	Alexandre MERCIER	255
14	NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE	Sebastien PETITHUGUENIN / Gaëtan AUNETTE	244
15	ALFA LAVAL	Yoann RICHOMME	242
16	BELVEDERE – EDC – EBSCO	Tanguy FOURNIER LE RAY	239
17	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	Paul McKENZIE	235
18	EMINENCE – MARSEILLE	Parade KINY	224
19	COTES D’ARMOR	Michaël AVELINE	216
20	BIENNE – VOILE	R. HARTMANN / N. BERGER / C. KNOLL	212
21	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	Stéphane VENEL	200
22	STAD GENT / VILLE DE GAND	Philippe BERGMANS / Bernard WILMET	197
23	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	Anne Claire LE BERRE	189
24	VAN UDEN TUDELFT	Gert VAN DER HEIJDEN / Berend-Jan EDENS	164
25	DEFI AMI – AVAYA - X - ENSAM	Olivier HONTANX	164
26	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE	Laurent DECLERCQ / Jean-Marc FOBERT	163
27	AMEC SPIE	Eric BASSET	160
28	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST-BRETAGNE	Alexandre et Gwen PALLU DE LA BARRIERE	157
29	EIGSI – CHARENTE MARITIME	Antoine ALBARET	152
30	HEC GAMELIN MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE	Ryan PARKIN	124