Breathing space

Inshore racing caning to allow Tour Voile teams to prepare for overnight to Vannes

The Race Committee decided to cancel today’s inshore race in the Bay of Douarnenez. This gave the crews the opportunity to rest before heading to Vannes for the sixth offshore leg of this Tour de France à la Voile - very tactical 107 miles along the southern coast of Brittany.

Today was pretty quiet on the pontoons of Port Rhu in Douarnenez. Most of the crews were resting, while the technical teams were working on their Mumm 30s giving them a big check-up before the start of the next offshore leg tonight at 20.00, local time.

This day off was also the opportunity for the crew in charge of the navigation to prepare for the course downloading the last weather files, etc. Raz de Sein, Bay of Audierne, Pointe de Penmarch, Glénans, Ile de Groix, Bay of Quiberon, Gulf de Morbihan, some of the most beautiful parts of the Breton coast, but also some of their most dangerous.

“The difficult side of this leg," said Figaro sailor Jeanne Grégoire sailing on board Eminence Marseille, is to deal with the land and sea breezes. We will have to find the right position in the fleet. The positive side of it is that everyone will have an opportunity to do well until the finish line”.

Some teams already have a race strategy. This is the case of Alfa Laval, the student crew from the Southampton Institute. Yesterday after the last offshore leg between Paimpol and Douarnenez, they took the lead of the Student ranking in front of Port de Commerce la Rochelle. But now they have to keep this lead. “We want to keep the control over the other boats," says navigator, Coriolan Roussel. "We just had a good night of sleep so we are in good shape to keep fighting. The race is far from being over. I think we are going to have a nice competition up to Menton”.

In the overall ranking, Toulon Provence Mediterranee Coychyères is still leading, but after their victory yesterday, Bouygues Telecom is back in the hunt. For the next leg of the race, Pierre Loïc Berthet and his crew are welcoming on board trimaran veteran Loïck Peyron. “We will have to be careful and not take too many risks," says the French skipper. "The team of Bouygues Telecom is very experienced. They are the World Champions so they have a big pressure on their shoulders, but they know perfectly how to deal with it. I hope I can bring a part of my sailing experience too”.