(Presque Ile de Crozon, France)- The French Navy and The Naval Academy has always been intimately linked to the world of sailing in France. In fact, sailing is one of the pillars of the training offered by the School and the Navy is a partner in offshore racing for many years in charge of rescue operations. In 2002, The Naval Academy decided to host a premiere one-design keelboat regatta to further support offshore one-design sportboat sailing and showcase the sport to the public and Navy personnel. This year, the Academy welcomed over 1,000 sailors that were sailing over 200 boats. The event has now achieved enough notoriety that the President of the French Sailing Federation (FFV), Jean-Pierre Champion, has decided to entrust the organization of the Championship of France Monotype to the Ecole Navale for another two years.
This
year, eight nationalities were represented, giving an international
dimension to the Grand Prix with teams from: France, Britain, Germany,
Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenija, Oman and New Zealand. Alistair Moore,
coach of the Sail Oman Team said, "This is the first time the Youth
Racing School of Oman Sail were able to implement their learning in an
international regatta. It was a great test of their skills!"
With
forty-five boats attending, the largest and most prominent class of the
regatta, the J/80 competition ended after 10 races were sailed in
fantastic 10 to 20 knot winds to determine "Le Champion of France
Monotype". The winning team aboard INTERFACE CONCEPT 2 sailed a strong
series, Morgan Riou leading his team to a 4-13-1-7-1-2-3-3-3-1 series
for 25 pts (including toss). Second with a much more inconsistent
scoreline was Maxime Rousseaux sailing GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTES to a
3-8-27-2-3-1-20-5-2-6 record for 50 pts. Third was Sebastien Metivier
skippering CCVS CHERBOURG to a 8-7-1-1-2-22-5-1-4-12 for 61 pts. Fourth
was Christine Briand, second women helm at the regatta behind Maxime,
skippering J'ILE DE RE to a 14-4-2-13-ocs-9-6-2-11-15 for 76 pts. Fifth
was Lionel Conort sailing MARINE BREST 1, showing moments of
brilliance, scoring 11-12-5-9-20-8-1-17-14-4 for 81 pts.
The
J/22s saw eight teams participating to determine the "monotype
champion" also over the course of ten races like their J/80
counterparts. The winner was not clear even after seven races! In fact,
it was a closely fought event for the top four contenders.
Nevertheless, the cream does ultimately rise to the top, sailing a
remarkably consistent series was Patrick Huet racing EUROPEAN HOMES to a
solid score of 3-1-3-2-4-3-4-1-2-4 to finish with 23 pts (including
toss). Second was Reinhold Gross from the strong German J/22 fleet,
sailing JAMAICAS KRONJUWEL- 22 CARATS to a 1-2-5-1-6-5-1-6-4-1 for 26
pts, the only boat to score four firsts! Third was Clair Pouteau
sailing SOFFE to a 5-3-1-3-2-6-7-3-1-5 record for 29 pts.Sailing Photo Credits: Pierrick Contin : pierrick.contin@wanadoo.fr Jacques Vapillon : photo@vapillon.com For more Grand Prix Ecole Navale sailing information
