Davies shows form

After more successful offshore leg between Port Camargue and Beaulieu

Erwan Tabarly on Thales won the Port Camargue-Beaulieu leg after 33 hours and 55 minutes of racing ahead of Gildas Morvan on Cercle Vert who has now taken the overall lead by 10 points. Morvan has displaced Eric Drouglazet who has dropped to fourth overall after a disappointing 15th place finish on this leg.

Conditions were contrasting with a Mistral complete with 40 knot gusts early on, yet zero wind during first night.

Sam Davies racing Skandia scored her best result after six days of competition, with a 13th place in the longest offshore race of the Generali Méditerranée.

Davies finished two places higher than Eric Drouglazet - overall leader before this leg and 2001 Solitaire du Figaro champion. The 32 boat fleet left Port Camargue at 11h00 on Wednesday morning to race 190 miles eastwards towards Beaulieu-sur-Mer...the fleet were expected to arrive yesterday around midday but lack of wind yesterday turned it into a marathon leg. The winning boat - Erwan Tabarly's Thales - finished late yesterday evening after 33 hours and 55 minutes of racing.

Before the start on Wednesday the forecast was scary - downwind racing in Mistral conditions with potential for 50 knot gusts daunting even for a crewed boat, solo it's on the edge... "In the end it wasn't too bad although I was pretty nervous," said Davies. "I knew it was going to be windy as Meeno ( Skandia's German weather router) had forecasted 50 knot gusts but all I got was sustained 35 knots so that was fine but we were on the edge a lot of the time. I just kept hoping the wind would not increase or get really gusty because then I might have been forced to drop Skandia's spinnaker which would have been dangerous... Everything was fully loaded up and I couldn't leave the tiller for very long - I stayed low so I didn't have to gybe. Some guys didn't have kites up or had problems so we overtook loads of people - and we were fast!"

Skandia's good downwind leg put her with the middle of the fleet as the early morning positions showed but it was after Toulon that Davies made real gains: "I tacked out and went offshore off Porquerolles," said Davies. " When I tacked back in I had caught up with the leading pack - I was surprised they had gone inside. The leading pack always stick together and defend where they are, very rarely does anyone split so it is hard to do anything different but sometimes it pays." Certainly, Davies decision to go offshore at Porquerolles paid off - Skandia was up with the leading pack and it was a position Davies managed to maintain for the duration of the race.

"In the final 20 miles to the finish along the coast of Cap d'Antibes I was right with the leaders," said Davies. "At one point I might have even been in the lead as the wind was shifting around all over the place! It was light and shifty and after 30 hours of racing it was really hard to concentrate and not fall asleep. I had been awake all the time and was physically knackered from the first day...everything was hurting. It was hot with little breeze and you know you are getting frazzled but you don't want to leave the tiller even to get a bottle of water as you know you could be risking a place. We were so close to the other boats and when you are at the front with the leaders you have better boat speed to match so you push harder all the time."

Skandia arrived at Beaulieu-sur-Mer at approximately 21h20 (local time) after 34 hours of racing.

Sam Davies was the third highest placed rookie in this race and moves up two places overall into 24th and up two places to sixth place in the rookie standings.

Two DNFs Christophe Bouvet (SOR TMC) and Stéphane Sevaux (Plus Pharmacie).