(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The dozen J/80s that participated in the latest sail-training weekend off La Trinite were in for a real treat. Coaching the teams all weekend were Eric Brezellec, multiple winner of the J/80 Coupe de France and Aymeric Belloir, winner of the last Mini-Transat and Figaro Solo— two very impressive and knowledgeable sailors!
Even
better, Mother Nature provided great sport for the sailors. How about
beautiful partly sunny days with winds of 15-27 kts on Saturday and
20-30 kts on Sunday! The conditions were perfect for surfing and
planing all over the courses and many people learned how to sail much
faster in conditions the Spanish J/80 teams have become so famous for in
the past.On Sunday, the teams focused a lot on boat-handling and boat speed, then had three short races to apply their newfound skills and knowledge. In fact, towards the end of the day, the winds kept getting stronger and even forced a sportboat regatta on the Bay of Quiberon to cancel and return to port. Nevertheless, several J/80s kept sailing!
The level of competition in the French J/80 class continues to rise with the arrival of several champions from other classes. The expectation is the level of competition improves enough for another good showing for French teams not just in SPI Ouest coming up next weekend, but ultimately in the 2014 J/80 World Championship that is taking place in Annapolis, MD USA.
Top honors for the weekend goes, again, to Matthew Solomon sailing EV CATASCOOL with a 1-2-2 score for 5 pts! Just behind was Telesto’s ECOLE NAVALE with a 2-3-4 for 9 pts in second place and in third was local Trinitain sailor Yannick Tabarly with a 3-4-3 for 10 pts. Rounding out the top five were Morgan Lagravière on SAFRAN in 4th and Jerome Croyère on RUBAN VERT in 5th. Thanks for the report from Arnaud Walter- from Arno Skipper / Sport Boat Regatta. For more J/80 sail training information
|