Davies comes good

On final offshore leg of Tour de Bretagne Figaro race

It was the morale boost Sam Davies and Emma Westmacott needed after six days of intense racing in the hotly contested Figaro Tour de Bretagne a la Voile event...a 12th place in the final offshore race. The sailing duo knew the event would be a baptism of fire and it was: "The pace has been relentless but we were never disappointed with where we were finishing because we knew it would be like this," said Davies. "But to finsih 12th out of 26 of some of the best solo sailors in the world is a great feeling."

The first start was a general recall and Skandia had been well placed at the favoured end of the line with space around them and good boat speed. At the re-start most of the skippers had sussed the right end of the line so things were more crowded second time round for Skandia. Davies and Westmacott thought there was more wind on the right and tacked off - it proved to be the right decision: "We saw the wind shift and went for it," said Davies. "After that every time we tacked the wind shifted with us - it just got better and better. We had great boat speed and reached the first mark in 8th place just behind Loick Peyron on Generali Assurances." Figaro style the top 10 boats were just metres apart and there were no changes on the next reaching leg. "On the third leg it was a spinnaker reach," said Davies, " Skandia just took off and we got past two boats including Generali Assurances and Crealine but at the gybe mark, we had a bad gybe that lost us a few places."

On the final spinnaker run Skandiawere in 11th place but could not get in the right position to defend against Thierry Chabagny and Corentin Douguet on Petit Navire. But the gybing duel continued right to the line with the French boat just sneaking a boat length ahead on the final gybe.

"Overall we were much better prepared today," said Davies. "We were out on the water earlier, had the boat set up how we wanted it and our minds were into the race 100% well before the start. The boat speed was good all day and we never strugled to keep up with anyone."

Tomorrow Skandiawill race two inshore windward/leeward races and Davies and Westmacott will not be easing off: "Once you do better, you want to keep on doing better," said Davies. "Today has been a huge boost to our confidence."

Results

Pos	Boat	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot
1	CERCLE VERT	MORVAN Gildas,  PACE Bertrand	11	1	2	1	1	16
2	BOSTIK FINDLEY	CAUDRELIER BENAC Charles,  BIDEGORRY Pascal	6	2	3	4	5	20
3	DELTA DORE	BEYOU Jeremie,  CHIORRI Gilles	4	4	7	6	2	23
4	DEFI SANTE VOILE	PETIT Benoit,  MAHE Tangi	3	6	5	7	4	25
5	THALES	TABARLY Erwan,  VICARIOT Philippe	1	8	8	3	10	30
6	DAVID OLIVIER	DROUGLAZET Eric,  BOUSSCHOLTE Hans	10	3	10	2	8	33
7	GENERALI ASSURANCES	ELIES Yann,  PEYRON Loick	5	7	6	10	6	34
8	PETIT NAVIRE,LE BON GOUT DU LARGE	CHABAGNY Thierry,  DOUGUET Corentin	7	5	11	5	11	39
9	CREALINE	LE CLEAC'H Armel,  TROUSSEL Nicolas	16	10	1	8	7	42
10	D'AUCY	JOURDREN Bruno,  DAURIS Jean-Marie	9	12	9	11	9	50
11	CAMUS IMMOBILIER	GUERIN Ronan,  PAJOT Yves	2	19	4	15	16	56
12	SOLETANCHE BACHY	GRIMONT Damien,  VITTET Dominique	15	9	20	9	3	56
13	CREDIT MUTUEL VILLE DE CHERBOURG	TOULORGE Alexandre,  JAMES Bruno	17	11	13	16	14	71
14	REVE DE GRAND - ACTUAL INTERIM	LE BLEVEC Yves,  BESTAVEN Yannick	20	13	12	13	15	73
15	BERMUDES	THIERCELIN Marc,  ROGNON Cyrille	8	15	16	18	18	75
16	CREPES WHAOU!	ESCOFFIER Franck Yves,  SIMON Yannick	13	16	14	14	19	76
17	ESPOIR CREDIT AGRICOLE	RIOU Gwenael,  LE CLEAC'H Gael	22	14	18	12	13	79
18	SKIPPER AG2R	GREGOIRE Jeanne,  BOISSIERES Arnaud	18	17	15	17	25	92
19	ING REAL ESTATE	BAKKER Sander,  RINGERS Mater Jan	12	24	22	20	21	99
20	SKANDIA	DAVIES Sam,  WESTMACOTT Emma	21	25	23	22	12	103
21	TETRAKTYS	DESMARETS Pascal,  VOSS David	14	DNF	25	23	17	106
22	UNILOG	BOUGARD Patrice,  GESLIN Stephane	24	21	21	19	22	107
23	PORT TREBEURDEN	JOSSE SEBASTIEN,  AUNETTE Gaetan	19	18	17	DNC	DNC	108
24	FUTUR	BOS Christian,  GRANCHER Julien	23	22	19	24	20	108
25	SOR TMC	BOUVET Christophe,  PERAUD Alexandre	25	20	24	21	23	113
26	CYP	LEBRETON Eric,  BALOGH Francois	26	23	26	25	24	124

More photos by Thierry Martinez on the following pages