(La Rochelle, France)- The last regatta of the Coupe de France took
place off La Rochelle, one of the most famous sailing ports in all of
France. Hosted by the Societe des Regates Rochelaises, 59 teams from
France, Spain and Great Britain sailed an incredibly competitive
three-day regatta in a wide variety of conditions. Winning the French Nationals was the Spanish team of ESPALARTA with skipper Iker Almondoz leading the charge with crew of Eneka Juanena, Borja Ponte, and Mikel Vasquez. And, despite taking a 7th in the event, Simon Moriceau’s team on INTERFACE CONCEPT-CV were crowned the overall J/80 Coupe de France Champion with his crew of Jean Queveau, Hugo Kerhascoet, Herve Corlay, and Christian Ponthieu. Top women’s skipper was Maxime Mesnil’s team sailing CO-PILOTES NORMANDY ELITE TEAM into 5th overall (her crew included Sophie Faguet, Arthur Herreman, Sophie Fremont and Mael Gueutier).
The
fleet was fortunate to have good sailing conditions all three day of
the regatta. On the first day, four great races were run at about one
hour each. The wind started light from the east and, ultimately, swung
into the S/ SE with a slight increase in velocity. The
“oscillating-persistent” shift was fraying a few nerves of the various
tacticians, to say the least! The tension was palpable on the starting
line because the slightest tactical error caused a substantial decline
in the standings. Starting fast out-of-the-box was Almondoz’s ESPALARTA
team, taking a 4-1-3-4 to lead the regatta on Friday. They were
initially followed by Moriceau’s INTERFACE CONCEPT-CV crew in second
with a 1-2-7-2 record. However, Moriceau was DSQ’d for an infraction on
the race course. Consequently, Matthieu Salomon’s CHARIO PLUS- VANNES
UTILITAIRES ended up second for the day.
The
second day of sailing saw only two races take place. The first race of
the day was started in SSE winds of 6 kts that diminished during the
race. The second race of the day started in a southwest breeze of about
4-6 kts and, with current pushing the fleet over the starting line, it
proved quite fatal to some boats. In particular, Moriceau’s crew again
experienced some self-imposed “bad luck”, getting black flagged and
posting a regatta-killing score to their total. In the end, Mesnil’s
CO-PILOT NORMANDY ELITE TEAM won the race and climbed onto the third
position on the podium in the overall standings; meanwhile, the Spanish
team of GOLD SAILING, skippered by Inigo Jauregui took over second place
on the podium while Almandoz’s team on ESPALARTA continued to sail
consistently, posting a 3-7 to further stretch out their lead.As expected, the weather dawned cold and windy on Sunday. The imminent arrival of an Atlantic depression and strong sustained winds allowed the more experienced teams to show their fluency in the execution of maneuvers— what a beautiful sight! In this game, the Spanish ESPALARTA easily won the first race of the day, allowing them to win the championship without needing to sail the last race! Then, proving they still were on championship form, Moriceau’s crew on INTERFACE CONCEPT-CV exacted their revenge on the fleet by sailing away in the last race, emphatically winning the race by a dramatic margin.
In the overall standings, behind Almandoz’s ESPALARTA, it was Salomon’s 2-4 on the last day that sealed the deal for their second place performance, enabling them to also throw-out a BFD score in race 6. Taking third due to a reasonably steady performance was Sylvain Pellissier’s VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE. In fact, tied with Pellissier at 55 pts each was the Spanish team of Inigo Jauregui skippering GOLD SAILING. The Spanish had to settle for 4th based on count-back. Fifth was top woman skipper, Maxime Mesnil on CO-PILOTES NORMANDY ELITE TEAM. Sailing photo credits- Olivier Lhopez For more French J/80 Nationals sailing information
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