Goodchild and Pellecuer win Figaro leg

The Douarnanez-Lorient leg of the Tour de Bretagne concluded in the early hours this morning

Just before midnight the Figaro Artemis 23 sailed by Artemis Offshore Academy scholarship winner Sam Goodchild and his French co-skipper, Laurent Pellecuer, crossed the finish line to take honours on Douarnenez to Lorient leg of the Tour de Bretagne.

This leg ended up being shortened by nearly 25 miles due to a lack of wind, in stark contrast to the opening from Perros-Guirec to Brest and to Douarnenez. The start ended up being laid after the Raz de Sein. The fleet, making slow progress under spinnaker, made successful if slow progress towards Lorient, the leg ultimately stopped two miles short of the original finish line. 

Tactically the choices were to go into the coast or stay out and Goodchild and Pellecuer, using the courage of their convictions came out on top of a group of three boats including Morgan Lagravière and Gildas Mahé on Vendée, Jean-Pierre Nicol and Corentin Douguet on Bernard Controls.

According to Pellecuer, "Sam refused to follow the other in hoisting spinnakers that wouldn't fill. We started losing a lot of places because all of a sudden there was a lack of wind, but it did not last long. While most others were sailing in contact that can prove a disaster. We are one of the few boats to sail our own route.

Finish order - Douarnanez-Lorient

1 : ARTEMIS 23 (Sam Goodchild, Laurent Pellecuer)
2 : VENDEE (Morgan Lagravière, Gildas Mahé)
3 : BERNARD CONTROLS (Jean-Pierre Nicol, Corentin Douguet)
4 : NOSI KOMBA (Julien Villion, Antoine Koch)
6 : GENERALI (Nicolas Lunven, Dimitri Deruelle)
7 : MACIF (Eric Peron, Simon Troël)
8 : LUISINA (Eric Drouglazet, Damien Guillou)
9 : SEPALUMIC (Frédéric Duthil, François Lebourdais)
10 : SITA SUEZ / MAISONS ARTECO (Laurent Gouézigoux, Gwendal Guegan)
11 : KEOPSYS (Charlie Dalin, Jeanne Grégoire) - ZFP
11 EX : BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ESPOIR (Anthony Marchand, Ronan Treussart)
12 : SAVEOL (Romain Attanasio, Nicolas Bérenger)
13 : STARTER/ACTIVE BRIDGE (Xavier Macaire, Yves Ravot)
14 : ARTEMIS 77 (Nick Cherry, Yoann Richomme)
15 : INTERFACE CONCEPT (Gwenaël Riou, Simon Moriceau)
16 : BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL PERFORMANCE (Thomas Rouxel, Nicolas Troussel)
17 : SAVEURS D'EVENEMENTS / ASI INFORMATIQUE (Yannick Le Clech, Damien Cloarec)
18 : PRATI'BÛCHES (Vincent Biarnès, Tual Le Guillerm)
19 : ENTREPRENDRE EN PAYS GRANVILLAIS (Nicolas Jossier, Alexis Loison)
20 : DESTINATION DUNKERQUE (Thomas Ruyant, Yann Eliès)
21 : FAR AWAY (Franck Le Gal, Armel Tripon)
22 : AGIR RECOUVREMENT (Adrien Hardy, Pierre LeBoucher)
23 : GEDIMAT (Thierry Chabagny, Alexis Littoz)
24 : LES RECYCLEURS BRETONS (Michel Bothuon, Michel Faou)
25 : OBJECTIF ST BARTH 2012 (Germain Kerlévéo, Jean-Sébastien Henry)
26 : VENDEE 1 (Frédéric Rivet, Mathieu Richard)
27 : GAES (Anna Corbella, Gérard Marin)
28 : NIJI POUR LES SAUVETEURS EN MER (Clément Machetel, Hugues Meili)
29 : FRANCE ADOT / TRYEAU ARCHITECTURE (Jérémie Briand, Benoit Hochart)
30 : GALETTES SAINT-MICHEL / BRITANIE (Isabelle Joschke, David Sineau)