Last year's winner plans a report

Isabelle Musy reports from the Tour Voile

Julien Farnarier's Ville d'Antibes NEC was the first boat to cross the Cherbourg finish line this morning at 08h32 snatching victory in the second offshore race of this Tour de France à la Voile 2003. Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée-Coych came home in second just ahead of Dieppe Seine Maritime.

Defending champions, Pierre-Loïc Berthet and his crew on board Bouygues Telecom finished in fourth and are now the overall leaders. The Italians of Joe Fly Sailing Team still stand in 8th place overall after finishing in 8th in Cherbourg. Southern Sun Team Australie skippered by Melbourne's Mike Smith and Kirwan Robb are 10th overall after a disappointing 23rd place today.

The fleet kicked off Wednesday at 14:00 to sail this 107-mile leg from Dieppe to Cherbourg. The first part of the race turned into a long beat along the cliffs of Haute-Normandy. During that fierce tacking battle, it paid for those who chose to stay close to the shore. The fleet passed the mark at Antifer at 21:00. Capsport was in the lead, followed by Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention and Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée-Coych.

Bouygues Telecom was in 5th and Joe Fly Sailing Team in 7th. Then, at about 22:00, the northwesterly wind, that was slowly dying, suddenly picked up again allowing the boats to sail on the rum line. It remained like that until the wind shifted to the west south west. That's when the crews had to deal with lots of weed and also the tricky current of the Baie de Seine.

Ville d'Antibes NEC was the first one to tack, at the right time and the right place just as the wind shifted again to the northwest. And that's when the story of the race was played out. Julie Farnarier's crew got in the lead and controlled everyone in a nail-biting finish that saw 10 boats crossing the line within 10 minutes.

Ville d'Antibes NEC crewman Yann Eliès commented "What I will remember from this race is that we¹ve been flying through the fleet. The key was that good tack in the Baie de Seine. There is no doubt about the fact that speed makes you clever and we were fast today."

The boys on board Bouygues Telecom, who came home in fourth, were lucky that a boat managed to pass Cap Sport at the last minute. Therefore, the defending champions are now leading overall.

"We're looking good so far," commented Pierre Loïc Berthet "But it seems pretty clear that Cap Sport will be a most serious threat. Last year, we needed one point to win the regatta. Today we're four points ahead of them. That's good."

The Italians on board Federico Michetti's Joe Fly, who were leading at the top mark, came home in 8th position and still stand in 8th place overall.

The race was not a good one for the Australian team. "We had a shocker as we
dropped from 6th to 263rd after picked up a huge weed under our keel."

Overall results

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Points
1	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc Berthet	401
2	CAP SPORT	Xavier Lecoeur	398
3	VILLE D'ANTIBES NEC	Julien Farnarier Serge Madec	397
4	DEFI PARTAGE	Thierry Bouchard/Maxime Paul	376
5	REGION ILE DE France	Jimmy Pahun	370
6	TOULON-PROVENCE-MEDITERRANEE-COYCH	Pierre Laurent Garnero/Fabien Henry	368
7	THEOULE MANDELIEU-MBH	Sylvain Chtounder	367
8	JOE FLY SAILING TEAM	Federico Michetti	338
9	COTES D'ARMOR	Vincent Biarnes	312
10	SOUTHERN SUN-TEAM AUSTRALIE	Michael Smith kirwann Robb	304
11	VILLE DE GENEVE-CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien Dibiase Etienne David	302
12	CSC ESSEC	Hervé Gautier	299
13	MITSUBISHI MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE-ESCP EAP	Jean Charles Scale	297
14	DIEPPE SEINE-MARITIME	Jean Rodelato	294
15	THALES	Morgan Riou	293
16	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST BRETAGNE	Tanguy Mahe	278
17	CODIAM - ENSP -dh	JeanClaude Nicoleau/Nicolas Loday	263
18	VILLE DE DOUARNENEZ-ARMOR LUX	Corentin Douguet	262
19	DEFI TOTAL GRANDES ECOLES ENSAM ESSEC	David Abrard	253
20	ESTUDINES.COM PORT DE COMMERCE	Pierre François Le Poutre	248
21	INSA	Bruno Barbarin	246
22	TEPACAP	Yannick Bestaven Philippe Boudgourd	245
23	ACCENTURE	Franck Munier/Francois Dore	243
24	DEFI SEP-LEONARD DE VINCI- ESTACA	Jean Baptiste Lion	240
25	SAINT PAUL- ILE DE LA REUNION	Gabriel Jean-Albert	239
26	BELVEDERE-MARTINIQUE-LES COPAINS A BORD	Eric Basset	232
27	L'ENFANT@L'HOPITAL X-HEC	Jean Marie Gout/Philippe Legros	228
28	REGION ARCHIPELGUADELOUPE	Claude Thellier	221
29	NANTES SAINT NAZAIRE	Adrien De Belloy	220
30	BIENNE VOILE	Loren  Müller/Peter Luzius	212
31	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	Xavier Cantegrel	209
32	PSA-PEUGEOT CITROEN PSA-PEUGEOT CITROEN	Eric Blouet	201
33	MER & MAISON-BERMUDES CENTRALE PARIS	Ferdinand Rey	188
34	SOUTHAMPTON INSTITUTE-ALPHA LAVAL	Yoann Richome Antoine Cardin	184
34	DEFI JEAN BART	Olivier Gellez	184
36	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES CAPITALE	Jean Marc Fobert	178
37	ENTPE ENSAE ENSC SECURITE ROUTIERE	Oswenn Le Foll	159