Odyssey race prologue

Nick Bubb reports from the Mini racing in Antibes

Glorious sunshine and a 10-15 knot breeze from the west with flat water, were the near perfect conditions in Antibes today for the prologue of the Odyssée d'Ulysse 2003 race.

32 boats are entered (see below), with nine brand new, and there is a lot of interest in this race, as it is a qualifier for the Mini Transat itself.

Notable faces include Yannick Bestaven, winner of the 2001 Mini Transat and designer and very successful Mini sailor Sam Manuard. There are four British boats out here racing as well as French, Swiss, Spanish, American, Polish, Belgian and Mexican.

The Brits are Nick Bubb and Olly Ballam in their new Magnen design GBR 419 Northern Computers, James Bird and Charles Hardy in GBR 56 Atomic, Tom Horsfall sailing with Swiss sailor Toby Hochreutener on GBR 386 Ti Wai and Pete Burch sailing with Frenchman Jerome Lecuna on GBR 223 Berlingo.

After a hectic start with a very even line, it was Sam Manuard and Yannick Bestaven who true to form made the best starts to move into first and second respectively.

Northern Computers were caught up in the committee boat end melee and had to work very hard through the fleet. Showing impressive boatspeed they soon had the lead only to be thwarted by confusion over the windward and wing marks due to the numerous spectator boats in the vicinity. The other Brits were all bunched in the middle of the fleet.

After the first lap, Sam Manuard had the lead, closely chased by the Finot design of Armel Tripon and Yannick Bestaven who was sailing for Pia L’Orby on her Rolland design which was a winner in last seasons Open Demi Cle.

Northern Computers again worked her way back through the fleet and in a very exciting finish at the end of the second lap, just pipped Yannick and Pia on the line to take third behind Sam Manuard and Armel Tripon.

Pete Burch finished 14th followed home by Tom Horsfall in 15th. James Bird, the youngest skipper in the fleet finished 22nd.

Tomorrow the boats head off on the race proper from Antibes across to Hammamet in Tunisia and the forecast is looking good. The boats are expected to arrive in Hammamet on 11 April from where they will depart again on the return leg on 15 April. The race is 980 miles in total.

Competitors

Sail no	Name	Type	Club	Skipper	Crew
424	CHEEKYTA	Proto De Lamotte	SR Vannes	De LAMOTTE Tanguy	Emeric LINCH
406	DELILALOS	Proto Bouvet	Y.C.A.	ELSNER Patrice	Thomas RICARD
109	BAGDAD MADNESS	Proto Bertrand	CN Lorient	FRANEAU Gaspard	Roland VENTURA
281	YAMM	Super Calin	AVCR	LUCAS Philippe	Charly DALIN
348	NET CARRIER	Proto Magnen-Nivelt		Brian CALDWELL	Natasza CABAN
151	MOULIN ROTY	Proto Fino-Conq	APCC	TRIPON Armel	LEROUX Erwan
419	NORTHERN EXPOSURE	Proto Magnen-Nivelt		BUBB Nick	Oliver BALLAM
320	MAC BEN MUSIC	Pogo		LOULIER Pierre	LOULIER Philippe
433	VOILES et VOILIERS	Proto Manuard		LEBRAS Loick	Karen LEIBOVICI
316	SEAFARI	Proto Rolland	Winchers Douarnenez	L'OBRY Pia	Yannick BESTAVEN
16	PASSAGERS du VENT	Coco	SRR	HEDONT Stéphane	COSSETTE Alain
135	GOUDURIX 3	Proto Finot-Conq	SRR	AYRAULT Stéphane	DESPORT Olivier
240	AQUATEC	Proto Lombard	Club Vela Mataro	PELLA Alex	MOSS Galia
78	SMETS	Proto Fauroux		BLUY Xavier	Tristan BOCQUEL
345	FIFRELIN	Pogo		Cecile PUJOL	Ariane PEHRSON
432	OC	Plan Manuard		Yannick CANO	Nicolas MARCHAND
421	GWALARN IV	Pogo		Michel MIRABEL	Michel DIETCH
223	BERLINGO	Proto Rolland		Peter BURCH	Jérôme LECUNA
56	ATOMIC	Proto Berret		James BIRD	Charles HARDY
405	OKOUME	Mistral 6,50		Caroline VIEILLE	Claire De N0MAZY
238	GEMINI 3	Proto Rolland		TREGOUET François	Cedric LEBRETON
392	BIP-BIP	Proto Réard		Ludovic MARIOTTI	David REARD
139	REGLISSE	Proto Rolland	YC Cavalaire	CUINET François	Alexia BARRIER
431	TIP TOP II	Proto Manuard		MANUARD Samuel	MERGUI Mickael
429	CLASSIC	Proto Lombard		DEGSELL Eskil	Laurent MERMOD
371	SPASMOS	Pogo		SANCHIS MARI	Jordi VIDE GUASH
				Juan Carlos
340	TAQUET MAX	Pogo		Remi BEAUVAIS	Arnaud BERNIER
339	VECTEUR PLUS	Magnan		Aloys CLAQUIN	Thierry DUPREY
					Du VORSENT
328	POPEYE	Super Calin		Tiphaine VRIGNAULT	Loreana JACOB
386	TI WAI	Proto Mergui		Tobias HOCHREUTENER	Tom HORSEFAL
410	SOUEN	Proto Bouvet		Hugues BOULLENGER	Benoit PAPUCHON

Results:

Pos	SKIPPER	Crew	Country	Name	Type
1	Samuel Manuard	Michaël Mergui	FRA/FRA	TIP TOP TOO	Proto
2	Armel Tripon	Erwan Leroux	FRA/FRA	MOULIN ROTY	Proto
3	Nick Bubb	Oliver Ballam	GB/GB	NORTHERN EXPOSURE	Proto
4	Pia L'Obry	Yannick Bestaven	SWE/FRA	SEAFARI	Proto
5	François Cuinet	Alexia Barrier	FRA/FRA	REGLISSE	Proto
6	Stéphane Ayrault	Olivier Desport	FRA/FRA	GOUDURIX 3	Proto
7	Invité
8	Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari	Jordi Vide Guash	ESP/ESP	SPASMOS	Série
9	Patrice Elsner	Thomas Ricard	FRA/FRA	DELILALOS	Proto
10	Ludovic Mariotti	David Réard	FRA/FRA	BIP BIP	Proto
11	Eskil Degsell	Laurent Mermod	SUE/	CLASSIC	Proto
12	Caroline Vieille	Claire de Nomazy	FRA/FRA	OKOUME	Proto
13	Rémi Beauvais	Arnaud Bernier	FRA/FRA	TAQUET MAX	Série
14	Pete Burch	Jérome Lecuna	GB/F	BERLINGO	Proto
15	Tobias Hochreutener	Tom Horsfall	SUI/GB	TI WAI	Proto
16	Cécile Poujol	Ariane Pehrson	FRA/SUE	FIFRELIN	Série
17	Michel Mirabel	Christophe Dietsch	FRA/FRA	GWALARN IV	Proto
18	Philippe Lucas	Charlie Dalin	FRA/FRA	YAMM	Série
19	Alex Pella	Galia Moss	ESP/MEX	AQUATEC	Proto
20	Hugues Boullenger	Benoit Papuchon	FRA/FRA	SWEN	Proto
21	Brian Caldwell	Natasza Caban	USA/POL	NET CARRIER	Proto
22	Loïc Le Bras	Karen Leibovici	FRA/FRA	VOILES ET VOILIERS	Proto
23	James Bird	Charles Hardy	GB/GB	ATOMIC	Proto
24	Tiphaine Vrignault	Loreana Jacob	FRA/FRA	"MITSUBISHI POUR MECENAT	Série
				CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE"
25	Stéphane Hédont	Alain Cossette	FRA/CAN	"LES PASSAGERS DU VENT PRICEMINISTER.COM"	Série
DNF	Xavier Bluy		FRA/	SMETS	Proto
DNF	Gaspard Franeau	Roland Ventura	BEL/ITA	BAGDAD MADNESS	Proto
DNF	François Tregouet	Cédric Lebreton	FRA/FRA	GEMINI III	Proto
DNF	Pierre Loulier	Philippe Loulier	FRA/FRA	MAC BEN MUSIC	Série
DNF	Aloys Claquin	Thierry Duprey Du Vorsent	FRA/FRA	VECTEUR PLUS	Proto
DNS	Tanguy De Lamotte	Emeric Lynch	FRA/FRA	CHEEKYTA	Proto
DNF	Yannick Cano	Nicolas Marchand	FRA/FRA	OC	Proto