Light airs change game

After another day of windward-leewards for the Generali Mediterranee singlehanders

It was only at 1500 this afternoon that the competitors in the Generali Méditérranée series for the Figaro singlehanders. Eventually this the ninth race in the series, an anti-clockwise loop of the Porquerolles was held in 5 knots of west northwest wind.

With the light conditions came some unexpected play within the fleet with Vendee Globe sailor Marc Thiercelin and Jean-Paul Mouren making the best start and heading for the Porquelles side of the course, while the bulk of the fleet headed towards the mainland.

At the first mark Thiercelin led followed by Charles Caudrelier-Bénac, Mouren, Eric Drouglazet and Jérémie Beyou. At this point the wind dropped away further and embarrassingly former Figaro winner Eric Drouglazet found himself aground. A race committee RIB came to his assistance but Drouglazet immediately hoisted his red flag indicating his protest - he had not asked for assistance.

"I was 4th at this time," said Drouglazet later. "Fortunately my speed was low but there was some swell so I rebounded on stones. I jumped overboard to push the boat off by hand, but before doing so I called on the VHF to the Committee saying that I was sorting it out."

Drouglazet was able to dislodge his boat and remarkably moved into the lead ahead of Caudrelier-Bénac, Gilles Chiorri and Laurent Pellecuer. At the finish line the order had changed again with Pellecuer moving up to second place ahead of Chiorri and Caudrelier-Bénac.

A disappointing leg in the high scoring (x2) leg from Port Camargue to Beaulieu has left Drouglazet in fourth despite his wins in races three and four. Significantly today some of the front runners found today's conditions hard - yesterday's overall leader Gildas Morvan finished 16th, while Armel le Cleach came home 10th and Erwan Tabarly was ninth, enough to take over the top spot from Morvan.

In the Figaro first timer classiciations Franck-Yves Escoffier has now moved into first place ahead of Christopher Pratt (Malongo Coffee).

Sam Davies scored her second best result of the series today - 18th.

"At the start some went offshore and some went to the mainland coast but that was a disaster. Once we got close to the island we were going in as close as possible and short tacking round the lighthouse, really close in to the rocks as you dare... I caught up a few places right places being in the right place for the wind and tacking at the right time. I was probably up in 18th or 20th place at this point. We then had a one tack beat, almost a fetch, on the next part. I stayed out a bit further this time and rolled past quite a few pople as there was no wind close in to shore.

"After the spinnaker leg we had to gybe round a bouy at other end of island to stop people going to close to rocks - think this is a bit of a notorious spot in the past for skippers wrecking their boats! I think I lost a couple of places on the final reach to the finish line just down to different winds in different places.

"I quite like the light winds and concentrating really hard on keeping the boat moving...some get really frustrated that there is no wind. You can hear them shouting and stamping on their boats in frustration!"

Tomorrow two more races are scheduled to kick off at midday. The breeze is expected to get up for these.

Results

Pos	Boat	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9
1	THALES	Erwan TABARLY	8	8	8	2	6	2	1	4	9	48
2	CERCLE VERT	Gildas MORVAN	3	3	4	4	8	4	7	1	16	50
3	CREALINE	Armel LE CLEACH	1	1	22	6	1	8	2	5	10	56
4	DAVID OLIVIER	Eric DROUGLAZET	4	4	2	1	2	30	4	16	1	64
5	DELTA DORE	Jeremie BEYOU	2	5	20	3	3	16	3	10	8	70
6	AON	Laurent PELLECUER	17	2	12	7	15	6	8	2	2	71
7	3201 METEOCONSULT Groupe Prosodie	Gilles CHIORRI	14	9	18	9	9	10	5	18	3	95
8	BOSTIK FINDLEY	Charles CAUDRELIER BENAC	11	18	36	5	5	12	6	8	4	104
9	GROUPE GENERALI ASSURANCES	Yann ELIES	5	7	44	8	4	28	10	6	12	124
10	E. LECLERC Protégeons l'environnement	Sébastien AUDIGANE	12	6	10	10	7	42	9	11	22	129
11	ESPOIR CREDIT AGRICOLE	Gwenaël RIOU	9	12	12	16	10	38	19	9	19	144
12	PORT TREBEURDEN	Romain ATTANASIO	16	21	26	14	12	32	18	17	14	169
13	CREPES WHAOU !	Franck-Yves ESCOFFIER**	7	13	52	21	20	20	17	15	6	171
14	Petit Navire Le Bon Goût du Large	Thierry CHABAGNY	21	15	34	11	11	46	16	14	7	174
15	Café MALONGO	Christopher PRATT**	6	33	34	13	16	40	13	3	17	175
16	PETITS-PETONS / FTH THIRARD	Christophe ARTAUD**	18	16	40	18	18	24	11	12	21	177
17	IN EXTREMIS	Marc EMIG**	23	25	28	20	19	34	12	13	11	184
18	VILLE DE CHERBOURG / MORY TEAM	Alexandre TOULORGE	15	10	54	12	14	18	24	21	26	194
19	Rêve de grand - ACTUAL Interim	Yves LE BLEVEC**	24	11	14	15	33	44	15	24	15	195
20	SORELEC MBD Design	Arnaud BOISSIERES	13	19	38	19	13	36	20	20	24	201
21	M@RSEILLE ENTREPRISES	Jean Paul MOUREN	33	22	56	27	24	22	14	7	5	209
22	Skipper ag2r	Jeanne GREGOIRE	19	23	20	24	17	50	23	22	27	224
23	BERMUDES	Marc THIERCELIN	10	20	58	33	33	14	22	19	13	226
24	ART IMMOBILIER CONSTRUCTION	Daniel DUPONT	22	17	46	17	22	48	21	25	23	240
25	SKANDIA	Samantha DAVIES**	20	27	62	23	23	26	27	23	18	247
26	SOR TMC	Christophe BOUVET**	25	24	24	22	21	66	25	28	28	267
27	PLUS PHARMACIE	Stéphane SEVAUX**	28	30	32	28	27	66	26	30	25	294
28	SECTOR SPORT WATCHES	Corrado AGUSTA**	27	33	52	26	26	52	31	26	31	304
29	MONACO MARINE GROUP	Alberto SPINA	30	28	66	25	25	56	28	29	20	305
30	ALTAVENTURE / SNSM	Eric PILAT**	29	33	42	29	28	58	30	27	29	305
31	STERN groep	Sander BAKKER**	26	33	50	33	33	54	29	33	30	321
-	LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR	Lionel PEAN	33	33	66	33	33	56	33	33	33	363