Press
Release n° 6
At
last a fine breeze blows in at La Trinité sur Mer A north-westerly wind blowing at 15-17 knots at the start of the day, developing westerly in the afternoon, enabled the Race Committee of the Société Nautique de La Trinité-sur-Mer to fire the starting shots of the 3rd and 4th rounds of the World Championship 2003 in the Bay of Quiberon.
Round
n°3
Given ideal race conditions and the 8M IC remarkable head to wind ability, this morning, the 20 competitors raced in an apparent wind of more than 20 knots when close-hauled, giving spectators a demonstration of what these yachts can do at full power. A far cry from yesterday’s light winds.
The Modern soon moved into the lead in the first round of the day. Half an hour into the race, a 25° shift in the wind favoured the left hand side of the course. Yquem, with Mystery and Gefion in her wake, rounded the first mark in the lead, relegating the overall leader Fleur de Lys, to fourth position. In the Classics, Vision of Sebago, helmed by Tanneguy Raffray, lead the dance with brio on the first leg, with the Italian Bona hot on her heels.
But there was still everything to fight for. Jean Fabre, helming Yquem withstood the pressure from Jacques Fauroux (Fleur de Lys) for a while but the championship titleholder took the advantage once again at the end of the second upwind leg. Lafayette, Mystery, Gefion and Aluette were still in the running at the time, but the two leading boats gradually pulled away. 1h 46 into the race, Fleur de Lys took lien honours, clocking up a third win in a row in so doing. In the Classic category, Vision pulled away a little, cutting out the work for Bona, Cutty Tou and Gaulois through to the finishing line. Finishing seventh overall on this round, Vision of Sebago dominated the Sira series 1 minute and 53 seconds ahead of Cutty Tou, her main opponent. Tenth overall of this 3rd round, Bona held onto the lead of the Coupe Cartier, ahead of Catina VI.
Round
n°4
The westerly breeze rose to 18 knots in the afternoon, offering tough sailing conditions for this fourth race, conditions which were largely behind the afternoon’s events. The fleet set out at 14 h 06, upon which the canon could be heard announcing an individual recall. Five boats had crossed the line before the starting shot had been fired (Yquem, Bona, Cutty Tou, Catina VI and Aile VI). None set their mistake right, they continued the race and were consequently all disqualified by the jury. Several minutes later, at the end of the first upwind leg, the German yacht Ayana and the British yacht Amorevita collided. The British boat lost two tiers of her spreaders in the process, and the German boat lost her jumper strut and mast head wind vane. Fortunately, both spars stayed up. Out of 18 runners (Silk and Enchantement did not race and Lafayette did not finish the round), just ten boats were classified in this 4th race.
In the lead, Fauroux’s crew on Fleur de Lys pulled out all the stops and won yet again. Gefion, decidedly at ease in a breeze, finished just two minutes behind. In the Classic category, Vision of Sebago confirmed her fine potential by taking sixth overall and first in the Sira series.
In view of the protests lodged at the end of the fourth round, overall ranking may be subject to one or two amendments.
Wednesday was originally intended to be a rest day. The race committee has finally decided that one round will be raced (the 5th) with a start at 15h30.
Day’s rankings prior to jury rulings :
Round
n°3 – Tuesday – start : 10h 36
Round
n°4 – Tuesday – start : 14h 06
Overall
provisional rankings after 4 rounds |
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